Finnish footballer nearly had to have leg amputated!

Nunu

I just heard about this today, so i googled it.

http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=footballNews&storyID=URI:urn:newsml:reuters.com:20060228:MTFH32010_2006-02-28_11-59-34_B676152:1

GLASGOW Feb 28 (Reuters) - Finnish player Markus Paatelainen has revealed how a newspaper article in his homeland helped save his leg from amputation after a blood clot developed hours after he was caught on the shin by a late tackle.

The 23-year-old brother of Finland international and current Cowdenbeath manager Mixu was left in agony when he was scythed down playing for the Scottish fourth division side in a 4-0 league win at Elgin City on Saturday.

He began to feel severe pain in the leg on the journey home and remembered a story he read about impact-related blood clots.

Paatelainen, a former Aberdeen player, told The Scottish Sun: "My parents send me Finnish newspapers every week and I read about an ice hockey player who was in a similar situation two weeks ago.

"When I started to feel the pain while I was on the bus it was unbearable and I thought it might be the same thing. I knew I had to go to hospital then so I got Mixu to take me."

Markus was caught on the outside of his shin by the tackle and also twisted his knee causing a blood clot.

Hospital x-rays revealed there was no break, but doctors spotted the clot after measuring pressure on the shin and operated immediately at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.

"The family and everyone associated with the club are shocked by what has happened but Markus has been very fortunate," Mixu Paatelainen told the Cowdenbeath website.

"Such an operation should normally take place within six hours but Markus was not operated on until 3.30am on Sunday morning. But thanks to the expertise of the medical team the surgery was a success.

"Markus will have a second operation tomorrow and will be sidelined for two to three months."

It reminded me of a predicament a team mate of mine endured about 4 years ago. He did his cruciate ligament in and when they were doing tests before his operation they found a clot in his knee. It would have killed him in the very near future if it hadn't been discovered. So, that serious injury was a blessing and saved his life.

SuprSi

The same thing happened to Christian Ziege while he was with Spurs. He got a dead leg and it swelled up a huge amount. He was worried that he'd lose his leg, but they treated it quickly enough and he was ok.

damienom

Didn't the same happen to the Tipp hurling goalie Cummins, leg swelled till it nearly burst?

He has some scar the whole way up his leg from the staples?

Roddy23

Same thing nearly happened to Tony Cotton. He got a dead leg when he was playing for City, and was told he would probably have to amputate on it. Never came to that though