Football-mad Glenn Fielder knows more than most the devastation a knife can do.
He is the close friend of David Beckham whose career was cruelly destroyed when he was left paralysed at 16 after he was stabbed in the back.
Glenn, 37, grew up on the same street as the England midfielder and played beside him as a boy.
Beckham went on to become a superstar while Glenn could only watch from a wheelchair - all because of a gormless yob with a knife.
A clearly emotional David told on Monday how his friend's ordeal had deeply affected him as he urged teenagers to bin blades in an attempt to stop the spate of knife murders sickening Britain. And yesterday Glenn spoke out for the first time about the attack and of his pride that Beckham, 33, had mentioned him.
He told the Mirror: "I was a young footballer with my whole exciting life out in front of me. In a second it was over, for no reason at all.
"I was good friends with David. Our lives were taking similar paths. I'll never know if I could have been as good as him. I've had to live with not knowing what I might have done."
Dad-of-two Glenn, who lives in Waltham Abbey, Essex, relived the agony of his ordeal in an exclusive interview with the Mirror.
He grew up near the Beckhams in Chingford, Essex, where his younger brother Danny was the same age as the future star and his schoolmate.
Glenn was 16 in 1987 when he signed as an apprentice for Leyton Orient FC, the East London club where Beckham also had trials before signing for Manchester United.
But on January 17 that year he was attacked by a gang of yobs as he helped an injured friend outside a community hall party in Chingford.
He said: "A gang of lads came up and were trying to cause trouble.
"We tried to walk round them but as we passed by I saw a friend of a friend lying on the floor unconscious.
"He'd been badly beaten up. As I was bent over trying to help him I was stabbed in the back. I remember taking a massive blow like someone had punched me really hard and feeling a sharp pain.
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"I was unconscious immediately but later found out he'd plunged a big blade right between my shoulder blades and severed my spinal cord.
"Then his mates gave me a hiding, some of them were jumping on my head and chest. I woke up in hospital a few days later.
"I remember clear as day the moment the consultant told me I'd never walk again or feel anything in my legs and that I would be paralysed for life from the chest down.
"My world ended at that point. I'd never be able to play football and I couldn't imagine anything worse." Six youths were arrested and Paul Bunce, then 18, of Walthamstow, served four years of a six-year sentence for wounding and GBH.
Meanwhile distraught Glenn spent 11 months in hospital before trying to put his life back together.
He recalled: "When I came out of hospital I was in a state.
"Even thinking about football was devastating. I ripped up old team photos and threw away medals. I couldn't bear to watch it on TV."
Glenn now drives a hand-controlled taxi for a living and lives with his wife Julie, 40, and children Tommy, 15, and Harleigh, 13. Although millionaire Beckham lives in an LA mansion, the two families retain close links.
Beckham's dad Ted lives on the same Chingford street as Glenn's father Geoff. And the star's loyal mum Sandra wept beside other mourners at the funeral for Glenn's mother Pauline, who died of cancer in 2005.
Glenn said: "We were touched Sandra made it to say goodbye to mum. David was playing in Spain at the time but he sent flowers.
"When I heard him on the radio I realised he was talking about me. I was flattered he remembered me.
"I'm pleased David is backing the campaign to stop knives and I fully support the Mirror's campaign."
Tottenham fan Glenn added: "I just hope kids listen to David so nobody else has to suffer like I have.
"If anyone knows the damage knives can do, it's me."
Find out more on the People's March in the fight against knife crime by visiting www.mirror.co.uk/peoplesmarch
