MY FOOTIE AGONY
Chris suffers a header horror
®Êby OLIVER PRITCHARD
A FOOTBALLER is paralysed after he dislocated his neck during a match.
Chris Keogh, 27, landed awkwardly on his neck after he went for a header. He said: “It is the most pain I have ever been in.
“I dislocated my neck in three places really high up. If it was higher I would have died.”
Luckily a junior doctor was playing for the opposition side and instructed the referee to apply pressure to Chris’s neck until an ambulance arrived. Chris, of Redhill, Surrey, who is paralysed from the chest down, said: “If I had moved my neck I could have done even more damage.” He was rushed to St George’s Hospital in Tooting, south London, where he had a six-hour operation as doctors fought to save his life.
He will never fully recover but he has retained the use of his head, neck, arms and hands.
Chris, who was playing for Surrey side AFC Ewell against Merton Social FC, said yesterday: “I have accepted what has happened and I wouldn’t be as strong or as positive without the support from family, friends and the football community.”
Chris also paid tribute to girlfriend Daisy Allen, 26.
He said: “I have had the best hospital care and the best surgeons but she has been there to hold my hand and tell me everything is going to be OK.”