![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/1755175091_522_grey-placeholder.png\")
![\"Lee](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/0fb89350-79ed-11f0-ab39-5f560085c471.jpg.webp.webp\")
Lee Jobber<\/p>\nDan Hunt & Ady Dayman<\/p>\n
BBC News, Leicester<\/p>\n
Lee Jobber<\/p>\n
Lee Jobber has started volunteering with mental health charities<\/p>\n
“I now have a focus, I have a purpose,” says Lee Jobber as he reflects on his journey through a mental health crisis.<\/p>\n
The 45-year-old is known to thousands of Leicester City fans through his 20-year stint as a drummer on matchdays at the King Power Stadium.<\/p>\n
In 2022, Lee, from Braunstone, said he started having “really negative thoughts” and attempted to end his life in 2023.<\/p>\n
He told the BBC he had been through some “dark places”, but after receiving support he now has a “clear head” and is volunteering with mental health charities.<\/p>\n
“All I want to do now really is to give back,” he said.<\/p>\n
Lee said he started attending Andy’s Man Club, a charity which provides a safe space for men to talk about their emotions, in May.<\/p>\n
Within a few weeks he was approached by the club lead to run sessions himself.<\/p>\n
“I had a bit of a tear right there,” he said.<\/p>\n
“I thought ‘Wow, I’m I’m in a position that somebody else wants to hear me speak’.”<\/p>\n
![\"Adrian](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/d51ae460-7833-11f0-8d9f-754b4019943a.jpg.webp.webp\")
Adrian Webber\/ Getty Images<\/p>\n
Lee Jobber was known for drumming at the King Power Stadium<\/p>\n
Lee said he had some “great times” through the fame he gained through drumming at the King Power Stadium between 2003 and 2023, but added: “I’ve always tried to hide behind this big character.<\/p>\n
“I could hide behind whatever mask you needed me to wear.<\/p>\n
“But I didn’t know where I fitted in myself. I could go and help Joe Bloggs, I could go and help his brother. <\/p>\n
“The one person I couldn’t help was myself. <\/p>\n
“It got to a point where I couldn’t say ‘no’ to anybody, and I was getting really low with it.”<\/p>\n
‘Dark place’<\/p>\n
Lee said he had spent all his adult life obese and weighed 36st (228kg) at his heaviest. <\/p>\n
In 2021, he had gastric bypass surgery abroad and after the operation his weight dropped to 12st (76kg).<\/p>\n
But he felt “mentally and physically poorly” at that weight and said after his surgery he did not recognise who he was and removed the mirrors in his house.<\/p>\n
“Anyone who asked what my name was, I used to say Jobber. I was quite proud to be Jobber.<\/p>\n
“Then it became Lee, because I totally lost myself.”<\/p>\n
“I didn’t like who I’d become, I was just in a dark place.”<\/p>\n
Lee tried to end his life in 2023 and recovered at University Hospital Coventry and Warwickshire in Walsgrave. <\/p>\n
It was 12 months later that he began to attend recovery meetings.<\/p>\n
He said he is now “quite happy sitting in my own skin” and is now at a consistent weight he is comfortable with, adding his health is “a lot better”.<\/p>\n
Lee has urged anyone struggling with their mental health to speak to someone.<\/p>\n
“If you’re struggling please, please reach out because I wish I’d have reached out more,” he said. <\/p>\n
Chris McMinn, a facilitator at Andy’s Man Club in Leicester, said the charity was supporting about 30 to 40 men on a weekly basis and was looking to expand in the future.<\/p>\n