NON-LEAGUE footballer Alex Fletcher has terrifyingly opened up on his near-death experience playing football.
The 24-year-old Bath City suffered a horror head injury in a National League South game against Dulwich Hamlet on November 8.
The match was abandoned as Fletcher was rushed to hospital in Bristol by ambulance for emergency brain surgery after colliding with the perimeter wall behind the goal, suffering multiple skull fractures.
Five months into his remarkable recovery, Fletcher has recalled the moment he believed he could have died if he had fallen asleep.
He told The Telegraph: “I felt like if I fell asleep that could have been it. That is what sticks with me most vividly. It is a scary thought.”
Speaking on the 50-minute ambulance journey, Fletcher continued: “I was pinned down with a neck brace protecting my head.
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“I was drowsy and I was sick. I actually vomited over the paramedic.
“I remember telling myself, ‘you have to stay awake for as long as you can’.
“Then I remember the lights as I was wheeled into the hospital, really bright lights above my head.
“I knew I had made it somewhere where I would be looked after. That was the last thing I can remember from that initial chain of events.
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“I blanked out after that. I was fitting and unresponsive when I arrived at the hospital.”
Fletcher spent a week in an induced-coma following his surgery.
He continued: “My family was told my injuries were synonymous with a motorcycle accident.
“They were given the worst news; that my chances were pretty slim and that even if I pulled through it might not be possible to live my life as it was before.
“They were prepared for me waking up and not recognising them, or being a completely different person. To begin, the signs of progress were slow.”
His memory and personality could also have been affected by the terrifying incident.
Fortunately, it had no impact on his long-term or short-term memory, and Fletcher recognised his family when he woke up.
But doctors believe it could be at least two years before Fletcher’s brain can fully recover.
He has been left deaf in his left ear, with double vision and tinnitus, and part of his recovery involved learning how to walk again.
Fletcher now aims to raise awareness for better player safety, suggesting more protective equipment could be put at the side of pitches, or pitches could be made smaller to create a bigger run off area.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
