"I'm desperate to get back out there" - Summerfield glad to be back on the road to recovery after serious illness

The 35-year-old hasn't played for Halifax since the 2-1 defeat at Altrincham on Boxing Day, and his composure and creativity in midfield has been sorely missed.

Summerfield didn't go into detail about what his illness was, but says it was a scary experience.

"It was on a Wednesday night, I just woke up in the middle of the night with a bit of a fever and didn't think much of it," he told the Courier.

"Tried to get back to sleep, couldn't, sat on the end of the bed and I was just in a world of bother, just neck and headaches.

"My wife went to work and I didn't get out of bed all day, I couldn't move.

"My wife came back home and said 'you look really bad', we rang 111 and everything just escalated.

"I had real bad neck and headaches, I had a rash, I was vomiting.

"I went to hospital, waited for seven or eight hours in A&E, got through and got told I had a viral infection and just day after day I was on drips, for ten days, trying to fight the illness, and a few different scares along the way.

"It's just a different world in there, you perceive it one way in the outside world but when you're in hospital for that long and needing that amount of help, you can't knock them.

"The nurses and doctors couldn't have done any more.

"I was allowed out on the tenth or eleventh day and then had to stay at home for two weeks and try to recover and get back to normal living.

"Being in a small hotel room not being allowed out for ten days was tough mentally.

"I was just concentrating on getting better but when you get out and you realise how scary it was and how severe it was, not just for me but for my family and my wife, seeing me in a really rough place. obviously it was hard.

"But I'm getting better, every day I'm doing more and more and I'm pleased where I'm at.

"I wish I was out there playing but I can't be too forceful in getting back.

"I'm desperate to get back out there but I've got to manage myself because I don't ever want to get back to that stage of illness again.

"It was quite serious in the end, I was in hospital for ten, eleven days, which was tough for me and for my family.

"It was hard for everybody given how serious it was, but we've got through it.

"I'm still recovering, day by day I'm getting a lot better and the last few days I've been outside running and joining in a tiny bit, which has been nice."

Summerfield doesn't know how he got the illness.

"It just wiped me out," he said, "I was always tired, couldn't do anything without being tired.

"The doctors were saying 'we don't know how you've got it, you've been very unlucky, we don't know how a fit 35-year-old has got this'.

"It was tough to take but I got through it and I'm on the up now.

"Hopefully soon I'll be back out there.

"I've been back in training a couple of weeks now, I was in the gym the first few days, then light work outside and now I'm back to doing a bit more harder work outside, which is nice for the body and the mind to get back at it."

The midfielder hasn't set a return date for when he might return to action.

"From the get-go, when we first came out of hospital, we had a chat with the doctors and spoke to Az (Aaron Scholes, physio) and it's one of those things where there can't be a date because there's so much in the process," he said.

"I can't automatically get out there without testing the body, testing everything because I was in that much of a bad way.

"For six, seven weeks I just did nothing, so I had to try and get my body back to normal life first and now I've had maybe a week's worth of running, but I probably need a bit more.

"I'm playing it day-by-day now.

"We've said over the last week it's going to be day-by-day, we'll do a bit more each day, hopefully get through each day with a bit more an we'll see where we're at."

Needless to say, Summerfield is desperate to play again.

"It was hard the two weeks I was at home because I knew I was still in a real bad place," he said.

"Even though I was happy being at home, I knew I was still recovering because I wasn't myself.

"It was a big boost going into training with the lads and seeing the lads, even though I was doing a lot in the gym, it was nice to be in about it.

"And the last week, it's been another big boost for me to go outside and joining in bits and pieces.

"It's been nice, more mentally, to know I can get through it because I didn't know how I was going to feel or react coming back from such an illness.

"But day-by-day I know I'm getting better.

"I'm desperate to get out there but day-by-day is where we're at until we're ready to roll."

Summerfield has kept an eye on The Shaymen while he's been out of the side.

"I'm not the best watcher at the best of times but I've been keeping tabs on us," he said.

"We maybe lack a bit of consistency at the minute but, speaking to a lot of boys from different clubs in this league, of all the years I've played in it, I think this is the year where there's not been a lot of consistency throughout it.

"Everybody can beat everybody, obviously take the top two out of it, but everybody seems to be beating everybody and if you're alright on the night you're going to win.

"We need to stay positive and know how good we can be, and get back on a good winning run."