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Ex-footballer Andy Morrison gives further update on battling with severe life-changing condition

Ex-footballer Andy Morrison gives a further update on battling with a severe life-changing condition known as Ramsay Hunt paralysis syndrome.

The former Manchester City captain was diagnosed in late February 2026 with Ramsay Hunt syndrome which is rare condition which attacks the facial (cranial) nerve, leading to one-sided facial paralysis, weakness, and other issues.

He had said in his videos earlier this year that recovery can take 6–8 weeks or over a year, with around 70% chance of full recovery, and looks to continue fighting through it.

UPDATE – APRIL 8TH

“So we’re at week seven, just a quick update. Obviously the voice feels a bit stronger than what it was. Nothing positive on the face side of things.

“I mean, if you look at my good side, little bit of work there, you you wouldn’t be far off Brad Pitt. You go to the bad side, Freddy Krueger innit, Nightmare on Elm Street.

“I’m back to the middle and do my tests, which is lift my eyebrows, and that’s right hand side’s dead. My eyes, you you flicker them, the other side. That’s me trying to flicker them. There’s nothing, there’s no wink, there’s nothing. Nose, all good. The other side, nothing. And then the smile, the smile just goes right up there on one side and nothing on the other side.

“So not a lot of things there to be positive about. I mean, I wake in the morning, I put my elbows out to the side and there’s no wood. So that’s a lot to be positive for. Just lay on my face each morning. I got to see the eyelid specialist next week because I’m about maybe stitching my eye down because there’s a bit of damage when I saw the specialist yesterday to my right eye which is an option.

“And yeah, the frustrating thing is you just have to surrender to this and let nature and time heal, which is hard for somebody like me, you I could get in the gym, could get out running, could, you wanna take it on, you wanna fight it, but you can’t, you know. I most of my days sleeping, and then you wake in the morning and you look in the mirror and you hope that something’s moving or something, there’s a bit of life back somewhere in your face and there’s not.

“So it’s not a poor me share, it’s a reality of where I’m at. I see the neurologist in a couple of weeks time, so I’ll touch face after that, where I’m up to, but I’ve got a lot to be grateful for. I’ve got life to be grateful for. And my beautiful grandsons round over Easter, know, which always puts a smile on my face. So lots to be grateful for, but you know, a tough long road ahead, that’s for sure.”

UPDATE – MAY 1ST

“Well good evening, we’re now at week 10 and I just thought I’d just do a little update. Got a letter from the specialist that I saw last week. And as you know, there’s no good news. There’s a test that you can do where one is obviously the least and six is the worst and I’m between five and six.

“When you see my initial video that I did, I said like, you know, it could be six, seven, eight weeks for recovery. It could be a year. It’s gonna be a year. It’s going to be a year. It’s a long, long time.

“I’m a little bit tired and the mouth gets a little droopy at the end of the night. But have a look at this. I want you to look on my bad side. And if I lift my… can you just see a tiny… the movement there, that’s a big positive.

“That says that the brain is now beginning to repair the nerves. If it starts there, it might work its way down, might work its way across, but it’s a positive.

“And I’ve got to try and look for any positives at the moment. There’s good days and bad days. There’s days I helped my daughter move house on Tuesday, and then I slept for two days. I couldn’t get out of bed. So it’s exhausting.

“I expect to get stronger week by week. The dizziness, the vertigo and the brain fog just makes you feel drunk all the time. I haven’t been drunk for over 25 years. So it is a challenge. And I had so many positive messages and so many messages and people say like, ‘anybody can come through this, it’s you Andy’, ‘you’ve got this’. ‘You’re resilient, you’re this, you’re that’.

“I am, but I’m also, there’s fear there, you know. And like I’ve said many times, there cannot be courage without fear. You have to have fear, but you the courage to come through.

“So there’s a lot of fear because, um you know, it’s not a pretty sight and there’s, you know, there’s a lot of the unknowns and, but, you know, I will dig in. I will dig in and I will do what I have to do to get back to me what is the… you know, the best possible me. And I will, whatever that takes.

“When I try and move my mouth and smile, I can’t tell you how frustrating and how aggressive that makes me that I can’t control it. But I think it’s probably there to test me, because I’ve always been able to challenge things and take them on and work harder, train harder, you know, meet it, head to head, and I can, I’ve got to just totally surrender, you know, kind of get on my hands and knees and just pray that, you know, God and the universal will heal eventually. And I think that little bit of movement’s a real positive.”

UPDATE – JUNE 23RD

“Well, good afternoon, everyone. I hope everybody’s enjoying this heat. We’re now over four months into Ramsay Hunt, and it’s about five weeks since I last posted. So I just thought I’d give a little update. There’s obviously the voice. I mean, it’s a lot deeper and it’s a lot stronger. there’s definitely a bit of Tom Jones coming back into my voice. If you look over there, look at my guitar, you know, I’ll definitely sing a song for you, maybe in a more visits before I’ll do a song for you, but I will do a song.

“I’ve got to have an operation. I did have six Botox injections into the back of the eye and that closed the eyelid down, which really helped with the sun and that, and that’s worn off now.

“So they don’t want to put more Botox in. So they’re going to stitch the eye down together for maybe three months to allow hopefully the nerves to grow closer and get it to try and gain a bit more power and a bit more strength over the eye, because I can’t blink.

“So I start going, I go out and then, you if I do the, you know, you can see the eyebrow on that side as we’re getting to move. So there’s an improvement.

“And if we go to a smile, I mean, it’s a slightly passive smile, I know, but there’s a little bit. If I go for a big smile, then it just really, that just shows that there’s a lack of control.

“I’ve got to have a scan on my throat, while I eat so they can scan to see why what part of the throat’s not working, why I can’t swallow food. Because I can eat the food, I don’t really taste it because I’ve got no taste in this side of the cheek and my tongue doesn’t taste. But when it goes to the palate, the brain doesn’t send a message to open up. So you’ve got to wash it down with liquid, which is a bit a uncomfy, but hey, it is what it is.

“So I’ve got a scan coming up on that. And, you know, and we’re pretty sure it’s going to be 12 to 18 months until we find out what I’m gonna be left like. But if I look at, I was talking about Botox, I mean, if look at my good side, I mean, it’s absolutely incredible, isn’t it, for a man of 55? It looks like the Botox has gone in here, doesn’t it?

“If we look at the bad side. That’s a bit grim, but do know what? 50-50 perfection. I mean, I’ll take that now at four months, you know, so much positivity to come with specialist appointments and a small operation.

“And then really it’s a little bit of see where we are in a month, in two months, in six months. And then the specialist will decide what they’re going to do and how they’re going to try and deal with it to get to fully repair as much as we can.

“I doubt I’ll get back to how magnificent I was and just how good looking I was, but you can see 50 % of it on that side. Lots to be positive about. If you’re like me, a touch ginger, make sure you get your factor 50 on, this is going to be hot over the next few days. Lots to be positive about. I count my blessings every day because it’s been a struggle, but I stay positive and you know what, what will be will be.”

UPDATE – AUGUST 1ST

“Evening everyone. Just give a quick update after the first day back working in at City for the Matchday Live team, which I thoroughly enjoyed. It was fantastic to be back. I felt my voice was strong enough to go and do co-commentary again today. And that’s the first time back in five and a half months. So I really, you know, really appreciate all the support and working with Ali Mann, who makes it very easy and an enjoyable game. I struggled with a few words, a few names, but nothing too bad. I’ll tell you, I didn’t struggle with McAidoo. Could have a player there, by the way. Watch his face, but there was enough there today to think like could be the next one on the conveyor belt. Was hugely impressive in the second half.

“Birthday yesterday, so that was a great day with the grandkids and the family. And I had the specialist on Wednesday and it was really positive. He was delighted, he was amazed, the progress that I’ve made from House Brackmann 6 to what he said now was about a 4. And he’s really positive that within a year I’ll get my eye back and I’ll be able to blink. So I won’t have to tape it down at night.

“And although the throat, I still have to take juice to swallow and I got no taste in the side of the mouth and this whole side of the face is still numb, there’s no feeling here, so I had to drink through a straw still. But, you know, if that’s the worst case scenario, because he wasn’t sure, you know, just how much that would progress, because it’s still really weak. But if sucking through a straw is the worst case scenario, then so be it.

“But yeah, so, you know, I won’t be posting now because I won’t see specialist again for another three months. So, yeah, a really, really good day and it just felt great to be back em doing something when that seemed a million miles away when I didn’t get out of bed for sort of four weeks and I couldn’t speak for a month and some really dark days in this conservatory.

“But I stayed positive and this too shall pass. Everything passes, whether it’s good or whether it’s bad, everything comes and goes, and sometimes you just gotta dig in and get through it. thanks for listening and yeah, see you all soon.”

Ex-footballer Andy Morrison gives update on battling with severe life-changing condition

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