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| Image from Orange Football Club. |
There's good news in the football world today: Abdelhak Nouri has awoken from his coma. He was asleep for more than two years.
The Ajax star was playing in a pre-season friendly against Werder Bremen in the summer of 2017 when he suffered a cardiac arrest. He collapsed on the pitch before teammates and doctors rushed to his side. He was put into a medically induced coma at the hospital before doctors realized he had sustained severe brain damage.
Ajax has since admitted that their response in the moments after he collapsed was inadequate. A defibrillator should have been used sooner according to Ajax Chief Executive Edwin van der Sar. The club with arguably the best academy in the world eventually released their team doctor.
The Dutch midfielder was a top prospect in the academy and worked his way up to the first team in 2015. Sadly, he only made nine appearances for the senior squad before his career was tragically cut short during their pre-season tour in 2017.
Although Nouri is now at home suffering from permanent brain damage, his brother did offer some positive news:
He sleeps, he sneezes, he eats, he burps, but it’s not like he gets out of bed. He’s very bedridden and still very dependent on us. On his good days, there is a form of communication, for example, confirmation with his eyebrows or a smile. But you notice that he can’t last that very long. We talk to him like he’s not sick. We take him into our conversations and we watch football with him in the living room, for example. Then he watches. You notice that he likes that very much. He often shows emotions. Sometimes he is emotional, but often there is also a smile.Current Barcelona star, Frankie De Jong, who played for Ajax, revealed in an interview with Dutch TV that Nouri was influential in De Jong's move to the Catalan club - and his initial move to Ajax from Willem II.
As an avid football fan, I'm all too familiar with this type of incident. I can recall a handful of similar stories over the years. These players are as healthy and as fit as can be, and even with all of the medical testing these players undergo, these things can still happen. It's cruel. It's sad. It's unfair. My heart goes out to him and all those affected by this.
Peace be upon him.