Ex-Luton star John Hartson has revealed that at one stage when in hospital he stopped breathing.

Hartson, who won 51 caps for Wales, was diagnosed with cancer last year and came close to death on a few occasions.

He said: "I had two brain operations and was in intensive care. I got pneumonia and I apparently stopped breathing at one stage. But they brought me back and I had pipes and tubes coming out of me, connected to a ventilator. For a month they were just trying to keep me alive rather than tackle the cancer.

"I had to be moved to the neurology unit and, funnily enough, it's now in Cardiff. But last summer it was still in Swansea and so I got lucky.

"It was only a 10-minute ambulance journey. They tell me that if I'd had to travel to Cardiff I wouldn't be here now."

Hartson, who has been recovering well and was recently a pundit on Football Focus, added: "I've got a long way to go but I can face anything now.

"I'm not especially religious but I believe in God. I feel he has been looking after me."