Just a couple of months ago, Ruth Fox sat in her bedroom planning to take her own life the next day. After years of being in the pits of depression, she was going to take her own life before it had even started. 

 

Fast forward to today, and now 19-year-old Ruth is a midfielder playing for Cambridge United FC, a motivational speaker and has just published her new book, Within the lines: How the Beautiful Game Saved my Life. 

 

To get to where she is today, it was a matter of finding ways of coping and her passions in life.  

 

“I was first diagnosed with depression when my sister went to university. I was just crying all of the time and didn’t even know why.” 

 

“It took me refusing to go to school for my dad to make an emergency appointment with my GP, he could see something was wrong. That’s when I was diagnosed with depression at the age of 14.” 

 

Ruth started writing when she hit rock bottom. For her, putting pen to paper was a release, a way to make sense of the nightmare she was living.  

 

Football also helped Southampton FC fan Ruth, and she looks to the future with real hope; “Looking back to this time last year, I was fighting my demons, but football really helped me cope.” 

 

“When I play, I become the person I want to be - it has been my escape from the real world,” she says. 

 

“For those 90 minutes, I forget my problems and simply play the game I love.”