http://icnewcastle.icnetwork.co.uk/sundaysun/news/tm_objectid=17076544&method=full&siteid=50081&headline=footy-strip-saves-boy-s-life-name_page.html A youngster has spoken for the first time about how his Arsenal shirt saved his life when he was impaled on a metal spike. The spike pierced 10-year-old John Hough's chest, just missing his heart and lungs, but did not penetrate the plum-coloured shirt. Doctors said the shirt stopped the spike going deeper and damaging vital organs. John was yesterday recovering at home in Thorney Close, Sunderland. He said: "It shows I was right to support Arsenal. If I was wearing a normal T-shirt, I probably would be dead. "The doctor said if the top had ripped, the spike would definitely have gone in deeper and I could have died. "It would have stabbed my lungs and maybe my heart." His mother, Jackie McGlade, said John had been in a friend's garden when he climbed the fence to look at a trampoline next door. He pulled himself off the spike while friends ran for Jackie. She said: "It doesn't bear thinking about. The doctors said he was very lucky not to have damaged a vital organ. "If the spike had gone in any further, it would have damaged his lungs and heart. He could've been killed and, if he hadn't been wearing his Arsenal strip, he probably would have. "When I looked at the shirt afterwards I could not believe it. It hadn't been torn, there was just a little dent in it and blood where the spike had gone through but, amazingly, it was still in one piece." John is fanatical about Thierry Henry. He said: "I've supported Arsenal since I was eight years old and my favourite player is Henry. "Most of my friends support Sunderland, but I like Arsenal because they are better. "My mam and dad bought me one of the special plum-coloured strips for Christmas. It doesn't have a name on it but I'd like Henry's name to be on the back. "The only thing wrong with the shirt was there was blood on it and a dint where the spike stretched it. "But my Mam put it through the wash and it is back to normal, as good as new. It must be really good quality." John, a pupil at Farringdon Primary School, will be wearing the top on Wednesday, when, with his four-year-old brother, Liam, he will be watching his team take on Barcelona in the Champions League Final on TV. Jackie said: "He's just like any other little boy and likes climbing. "He was looking in the garden next door, because they have a trampoline, but in the excitement he stumbled and landed on the spike. "I was frantic when I found him because you could see right through the wound and some of his flesh was hanging out. "The first thing he said when he came round from his operation was: `Mam, I can't believe my Arsenal strip is ruined'. But it wasn't and it saved his life." --

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