Premier League’s first black referee Uriah Rennie learning to walk again after rare condition left him paralysed

FORMER Premier League referee Uriah Rennie has opened up about the rare condition that left him paralysed from the waist down.

Once described as the “fittest” referee in England’s top division, the 65-year-old is now learning to walk again.

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Uriah Rennie has revealed he is learning to walk again[/caption]

After experiencing intense back pain while on holiday in Turkey last year, Rennie was admitted to Northern General Hospital.

He told the BBC: “I thought I had just slept funny on a sun lounger, I was hoping to go paragliding but because of my backache I couldn’t go.

“By the end of the holiday I couldn’t sleep a wink from the pain, and by the time I got home I could barely walk.”

“I spent a month laid on my back and another four months sitting in bed.

“They kept me in hospital until February, they found a nodule pushing on my spine and it was a rare neurological condition so it’s not something they can operate on.

“I have had to learn to move all over again, I’m retraining my legs.”

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