This incredible footage shows a talented British footballer kicking a ball for the first time since a single punch attack left him bed-ridden and fighting for his life in a coma. The touching video shows Danny Hodgson supported by his girlfriend, Jess Pollock, and sister, Abby Hodgson, nudging the football back and forth to his father. The brave 26-year-old sportsman suffered a fractured skull and brain hemorrhage following the attack at Perth train station in Australia on September 5, last year. Doctors put the ex-Carlisle United youth player, from Cleaton Moor in Cumbria, in a medically induced coma as they struggled to treat bleeds on his brain and blood clots. Over the next seven months, Danny had to learn to walk and eat again, while his parents sat by his bedside everyday until he was finally released on March 18 this year. Writing on social media, his Mum Nicola Hodgson explained that football was now part of his rehabilitation process, as he works towards full fitness. She said: "Today's physio is....... football!!! This lad will not let anything hold him back. “One great physio team Jessica Louise Pollock, dad and Abby Hodgson.” Last month, Danny’s 17-year-old attacker, who can’t be named for legal reasons, was sentence to three years and eight months in juvenile detention. At the time, Nicola Hodgson had earlier called for the boy to get the maximum ten-year jail term for his violent assault. She said about her son: “It was a single moment in time that would not only alter the course of his life, but the lives of all those who know and love him. “While ten years won’t come anywhere near the life sentence imposed on Danny, we believe his perpetrator must face the most serious consequences for the pain and suffering he has inflicted on an innocent young man.” However, she later called the verdict “bittersweet” after doctors confirmed Danny could go home on the same day his attacker was sentenced. Danny moved out to Australia when he was 18, where he played for National Premier Leagues Western Australia side ECU Joondalup. He had been out with his teammates before the incident, celebrating a successful end to the season. But at around 2 am on September 5, he was punched in the back of the head by a 17-year-old teenager, who can’t be named for legal reasons. Australian police later arrested the boy and charged him with aggravated battery, and he was sentenced last month.
