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Maidstone boss John Still says football has kept him sane after revealing his wife almost died this summer.
Barbara, Still's wife of 44 years, was seriously ill in hospital after contracting two rare diseases.
The first, Goodpasture's Disease, attacked her kidneys.
She survived that but was then struck down by a blood disease known as HLH.
Barbara was so unwell, a priest was twice called to her hospital room to perform the last rites.
Amazingly, as doctors tried different treatments, Barbara pulled through.
The Stones head of football was worried sick but continued to work, meeting transfer targets at the hospital.
Barbara's illness has given Still a fresh appreciation for the important things in life but football helped him cope.
Still, 69, said: "This has been the toughest four or five months of my life, with my wife, but I was still able to fulfil what I had to do, albeit a lot of it direct from the hospital.
"I know it sounds silly but I had a desk at the hospital, I used to meet players there.
"If I'd been managing miles up the road I probably would have bombed it and said I couldn't do it but this actually has kept me sane a little bit and given me other things to think about rather than just the obvious.
"I'll be honest, I found it really, really tough going and it's remarkable how my family got together, my children and my wife's sisters and friends, to allow me to complete what I was doing.
"I can't remember, on or off the pitch, anything that has absorbed so much of my thoughts.
"It really has been difficult but we think we're through it a long way now if I'm honest, but it puts things in perspective.
"You don't know what's round the corner, no one does, but it's a part of my life that became more important than any trophies I've won.
"There's nothing that can take the place of what all my family went through and how we dealt with it and how my wife has come out the other side.
"We had the priest in twice. It was frightening.
"If you were to speak to my wife, although I used to go in at 8am and leave 8pm, sometimes she wouldn't speak a word but she heard everything that was going on, the doctors talking about her condition.
"She was traumatised by it as well. She thought she wasn't going to be here.
"We thought she was gone, my whole family did, so all these things give you a wake-up call to what's important and make you realise you're not invincible.
"You think you are, I'm 69, I'm never ill, I go out training every day, but I don't know what's going to happen tomorrow."
Still goes into the new season with a different outlook on management, too.
He added: "I think all this will actually make me a better manager and a better person because I understand now that sometimes you take things for granted.
"Sometimes you take players' loss of form personally and sometimes you take a bad result personally but this has taught me, quite severely, that sometimes things just happen.
"There's no rhyme or reason but it's how you deal with it.
"Sometimes, all of us who do this job, we think we're better than we are but we're not, we're just people who do a job.
"We have problems and you've got to deal with them as opposed to thinking, 'well, I know it all'.
"I didn't know it all before and this has made me realise how lucky I am to do this job, how lucky I am my wife's come through it, how lucky I am that I've got such a strong family, and how lucky I am I've got a group of players who will go out and work their socks off."
