King’s Lynn Town have signed striker Alex Kiwomya - a player who once overcame a rare illness which almost ended his career.
The 24-year-old - released by National League rivals Chesterfield last month after a change of manager – joined his new team-mates for the first time at training on Tuesday morning and goes straight into consideration for the home game against Halifax on Saturday.
Lockdown has prevented Kiwomya from seeing the team in action, but his due diligence work has been helped by some online viewing, including the goalless draw against leaders Torquay in Lynn’s last game, on December 12.
"I thought they were really good,” said Kiwomya, who has signed until the end of the season with Lynn having an option to extend that for another 12 months. “Really good against Torquay, I liked the shape and the way they got the ball down and played so it was a massive part in coming here.
“What they have done in the last two seasons getting back-to-back promotions is massive and it just shows what the team is about and what they are working for and it is something I want to be a part of.”
Kiwomya, nephew of former Ipswich Town player Chris Kiyomya, began his career in the youth ranks at Chelsea and has since appeared in Leagues One and Two with the likes of Barnsley – where his father Andy played - Crewe and Doncaster.
He joined Chesterfield in October, but left after the departure of manager John Pemberton.
"It is a bit of a weird one because I was brought in at Chesterfield and a new manager came in and just said, ‘I don’t play with wingers with the team I have got’ and being a winger that was difficult,” he explained.
“I took it on the chin, kept fit and just got ready for the next challenge.
“I have been really looking forward to it, I’ve been training with my dad and he has been keeping me fit and ready for this challenge.
“I haven’t been to the places I have been just on looks so I need to get back to playing with confidence and show what I can do.”
Kiwomya’s luck looked to have run out at Doncaster - where he spent three years from the summer of 2017 - when he was diagnosed with the rare auto-immune condition Guillain-Barré syndrome.
“I lost feeling in my legs,” he said. “I went in last day of pre-season and couldn’t run and obviously that is the strongest part of my game. It took a while to diagnose it but because it was so rare I went for a lot of scans and ended up seeing a neurologist who just said ‘look, you need to go to hospital tomorrow - you are going to have fluid taken from your spine and we will analyse it’.
“When I first went in they didn’t think I would play again – and then after being in hospital I slowly started to work on just walking again, then jogging and then getting basic movements back.
“It took me a while to get used to doing basic things again but when I got that I just hit the ground running.”
Lynn have also confirmed that defender Kyle Callan-McFadden, who joined the club in November, has completed the formality of signing a two-year contract.
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