“I was a monster” admits former Grand Final winner

Shaun Lunt won the Grand Final whilst on-loan at Leeds in 2012, but things went very differently for the hooker in the last few years of his career.

In September 2018, Lunt was diagnosed with sepsis whilst playing for Hull KR and it was then that the Cumbrian’s life began to turn upside down.

“I came pretty close to dying with sepsis, but then I got post-sepsis syndrome,” Lunt told BBC 5 Live.

“So, when I had the sepsis, a physical injury led to having a mental injury.

“I remember it well – I went into a tackle and I hit Jordan Thompson’s hip and I felt a crack in my spine (mid-thoracic), but I didn’t have any pins and needles or pain really.

“But, where the crack was, I developed an abscess on my spine and that leaked into my blood and I got blood poisoning.

“That led to sepsis, but I carried on playing for three weeks, so it wasn’t until I got rushed into hospital when i couldn’t breathe and talk at the same time that the doctor said “you have bacterial meningitis”.

“I asked the doctor “will i die?” and he said “no you’re young and healthy and should be fine.”

“Thankfully, it wasn’t the bacterial meningitis, but sepsis instead and I didn’t realise how lucky I was until I got out of that.

“The hardest part was the recovery; I was by myself and on a lot of medication.

“I didn’t have my kids to worry about, but I got home and was on an intravenous drip and a nurse came out to my house every day for six weeks to give me antibiotics.”

Lunt didn’t realise at that moment, but things would then take a turn for the worse.

“Then I got post-sepsis syndrome which is very similar to PTSD; I hit rock bottom and my kids didn’t want to be in the same room as me.

“I’d be shouting, kicking and screaming and throwing things at the wall – I was a monster, I genuinely was.

“Every time my missus would leave the house, my kids didn’t want to be with me and I couldn’t comprehend my emotions so I had anxiety and depression all day long.

“It was 18 months later until my kids wouldn’t cry when I picked them up from school.

“It’s been tough, but it’s made me more resilient.”

Luckily for the former hooker, he is now back to being his “wonderful and weird self”.

“I’ve got a full time job working in a residential care home which is very fulfilling and very rewarding.

“I will have a masters in sports directorship all being well with my dissertation and I run a business called HQ9 trying to get kids into rugby league.”