The screen in front of me has sat blank for hours.

In the midst of one of the most heart-wrenching stories to touch us all, the words penned in this week’s column are not coming easy.

That’s because life’s not easy. It can be crueller than any last-minute goal, more brutal and devastating than anything the sporting world can inflict upon us.

To explain, I turn to Jermain Defoe, the England striker, who too is struggling to come to terms with the harsh reality facing him and those closest to little Bradley Lowery, the six-year-old terminally ill Sunderland fan who, at the point of writing, has just lost his battle with cancer surrounded by his family.

On Thursday, Defoe sat at a press conference distraught. Tears streaming down his face, the 34-year-old had to repeatedly stop and somehow try and compose himself when talking about the fan who he is honoured to say is his best pal.

“He’s obviously struggling. I can say it’s a matter of days,” said Defoe of young Bradley, who was first diagnosed with neuroblastoma at 18-months-old. “It’s been hard because I have kept this in for so long.”

With those words somehow managing to escape from his mouth, the lump in my throat and thing in my eye swelled while I watched on yesterday morning. As a father of a soon-to-be three-year-old, it is almost impossible to describe what the Lowery family must be going through at the moment.

Bradley first came into the lives of millions of football fans last September when he led Sunderland out against Everton. It was clear at the time the little boy who clung to Defoe at the Stadium of Light wasn’t well, and it soon emerged his family were desperately trying to raise £700,000 to get him to the United States for potential life-saving treatment. Everton donated £200,000 on the night.

Heart-breaking news came in the months that followed that little Bradley’s condition was deteriorating. As the outlook grew bleaker, the bond between Defoe and the boy from Blackhall Colliery became stronger. The star visited Bradley at hospital and at home, most recently in the last few days cuddling and comforting the little lad who idolised him.

“He will always be in my heart for the rest of my life. There isn’t a day that goes past when I don’t wake up and check my phone or think about little Bradley,” said Defoe on Thursday.

“His love is genuine and I can see it in his eyes when he looks at me.”

The fact that will never happen again is gut-wrenching to all football fans and parents across the globe whose hearts go out to the Lowery family, while looking at their own children with those same hearts in their mouths. God only knows what it is like for Defoe, who lost his father to throat cancer five years ago.

In a world where footballers have more riches than some small countries, the impact Bradley Lowery has clearly made on this household name is profound. While Defoe was visibly upset at a Bournemouth press conference earlier this week, there was nothing but sorrow and grief in his voice. Not the merest hint of a platitude.

During those agonising few minutes, Defoe spoke about perspective, and he’s bang on. As the video of him breaking his heart appeared on my Twitter feed, it was bookmarked by a football fan ‘demanding’ Rangers be stripped of league titles from over a decade ago while citing a Supreme Court verdict. At least three words in his post he’d managed to spell correctly. The other, was a supporter frothing in an online argument with another fan over the Ibrox club’s latest European exit.

Give me strength.

In a world of turmoil, terror and bone-shuddering tales of despair, football has the ability to bring so many together. It was the love of a club in the North East that not just brought Jermain Defoe into the life of Bradley Lowery, but the inspiration of Bradley Lowery into the hearts of a nation.

The joy brought to this little boy in the last 10 months of his life by the football family, whether Sunderland, Everton or the Hibs support who had planned to chant his name during their friendly with the Black Cats this Sunday, will be of a huge comfort to his family left to piece their lives back together. The same can be said for the world of social media, which has rallied behind his cause and raised so much money for the foundation that will continue to carry his name.

One can only hope that the next time football drives someone to such distraction that they feel compelled to waste their energy berating someone they’ve never met on a website, they’ll perhaps consider hugging their child that bit tighter instead.

God Bless you, Bradley.

For more information on Bradley and his foundation, visit bradleylowerysfight.org.uk