HENRY Ackroyd is a credit to his family and his rugby club, and an inspiration to us all.

This weekend Henry, aged just 14, will be back on the rugby pitch – months after suffering a cardiac arrest as he took part in a cross-country event.

It was a devastating attack and had very serious consequences – Henry’s brain was starved of oxygen and he had to learn how to walk and talk all over again.

Anyone would struggle to come back from that, but Henry is a fighter. The sports-mad youngster will be allowed out of hospital to attend a charity event at Ilkley Rugby Club, where he is a junior member.

Henry is still undergoing treatment for the rare condition that brought him down in January, and while Sunday will see him carrying the match ball on to the pitch, you can imagine it won’t be too long before he’s itching to pull on his boots and get stuck in again.

Credit must go to the paramedics and the staff at Sedbergh School, which Henry attends, who battled to save him after his cardiac attack.

And anyone who attends the charity day at Ilkley Rugby Club and who sees Henry, will realise – as club chairman Richard Scargill says – how it all puts life into perspective for the rest of us.

So well done Henry for being a fighter, and for leaving hospital at the earliest opportunity to help raise money for the Great North Air Ambulance and for two wards at Leeds General Infirmary where another 14-year-old from the club - Freddie Morse – has been undergoing treatment for leukaemia.

We wish both Henry and Freddie well in their continued treatment.