James McPake was helped throughout the long rehab process by wholehearted support from people within the club along with his wife Dawn and his young daughters Sophie and Ailey.
He said: “The most important thing when doing your rehab is your mentality.
“They are long days and whether you are positive or not, you have to do the work.
“There have been times when I have been down but you have to drag yourself up.
“I have had other injuries and long rehabs but nowhere near this.
“This is the first one where I have spent the first three months at home.
“I couldn’t get out of the house and that was mentally hard.
“You want to do your job and it is great when you first get back to rehab as you feel you are getting better but for a while I felt like I wasn’t because we were just giving it the time to heal.
“The phsyio Gerry (Docherty) has been magnificent with me.
“The club have been magnificent, the manager, people behind the scenes, John (Nelms) and Tim (Keyes), everybody.
“Everything we have asked for, there has been no problem.
“We have been to London a few times, we have had opinions off surgeons in Glasgow, I have had scan after scan. Anything the surgeon has suggested, the club have got for me.
“There has never been a question, ‘Why should we do this?’. I owe great thanks to the club for that.
“They have allowed the surgeons and physio to do their jobs without any real restrictions.
“That’s not to say if somebody turned around and said a long warm weather camp in Abu Dhabi would benefit you, the club would say, ‘yes’!
“That would be silly but they have taken on board what the surgeon said.
“The club have been fantastic but family is the most important thing in life. They are the people who support you the most.
“I have two young girls aged two and three and it was tough. I was stuck lying on the couch and they don’t quite understand.
“My wife has been through it before. It is probably her I feel more for. She was with me through my back problems, it breaking down again and getting another surgery.
“It is kind of easier for me but it is the people around me like my brother and my sisters, my wife’s family, my mum, everybody.
“We had plenty of help and to be honest, we needed it.
“So as much as the club have helped me, my family have been equally important.”
