RUGBY STAR’S STROKE ORDEAL
CARDIFF BLUES PLAYER’S REMARKABLE RETURN TO RUGBY, AFTER SUFFERING A STROKE AT THE AGE OF 23
BRAD THYER can pinpoint the exact moment the full extent of his condition became apparent.
It was back in January of this year and the Cardiff Blues prop had been in the Royal Glamorgan Hospital for a few days after taking a bang to the head against Glasgow.
He’d been unwell, having collapsed at home and vomited repeatedly, but he presumed it was just a case of suffering from concussion. But it was more than that, a lot more.
“It was the Thursday night and two paramedics came in to take me down to the Heath [Hospital],” the 24-year-old recalls.
“My mum has been a nurse for about 30 years and when we got there she noticed I was in a stroke ward.
“Then a nurse came in and told me what had happened in front of my parents. It kind of went from there.”
It was at that point he learned he had in fact suffered a minor stroke or an arterial clot in the neck, to be precise.
Some dark days followed as the young man from the Rhondda faced up to the reality that he may have to hang up his boots at the age of 23.
He even started looking at other possible careers, having to increase the point size on an iPad to do so, as his vision had been affected.
But nine months on, he is back playing for the Blues. He has started the last three league games on the loosehead and now has his sights set on Top14 leaders Lyon who visit the Arms Park tomorrow.
It is, by any measure, a remarkable tale, one that began in innocuous fashion on a winter night at Scotstoun in the first week of this year.
“It was just a normal ruck and I just had a bang slightly above my neck, where your spine goes into your head,” he recalls. “I didn’t think anything of it. It was fine, there were no symptoms so I played out the game and flew home. “But then, when I set off from the airport, I drove home the wrong way. Home is in Ferndale but I drove to Newport! I don’t know why. “At the time I just thought I had missed the turning. So I went round the roundabout and came back. “It should have clicked with me at that point really.” It was the next day, now back at home, that things took a turn for the worse. “I woke up in the morning and went downstairs to the kitchen,” he said. “I just stretched because I was a bit stiff after the game and it kind of went from there really. “I collapsed into the fridge and hit the floor. I made my way to the chair and it was kind of like concussion symptoms. I’d had concussion before and it was similar to that. “Then there was a series of projectile vomiting round my girlfriend’s house, which wasn’t the best experience. “I got through it and went upstairs to bed at 4.30pm. “But my dad came in and said I had to get down the hospital. You know what it’s like with your parents, you just keep nodding until they go away. “Then I asked my girlfriend what she thought and she burst into tears. “So I thought I had better go, the boss is kind of telling me what to do.” Thyer spent the next few
days at the Royal Glamorgan, near Llantrisant, where he underwent a series of scans and tests.
Then after a few days came the move to the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff and the full alarming diagnosis.
“It turned out an artery at the top of my spine had been hit and taken an impact,” he explained.
“It had clotted, which had caused a narrowing. Then when I woke up, my blood pressure raised which caused a sudden rush of blood to the head and a bleed in the neck.
“It was basically an arteriole clot in the neck, which they term as a minor stroke.
“Until the nurse told me what had actually happened and put the term stroke to it, I just thought I had bad concussion and it might take a bit longer, because loads of boys have concussion and come back. So that was pretty scary.
“To me, up until then, it was still just concussion because it was nothing I hadn’t experienced before.
“I was seeing lights, symptoms that you have with concussion. It was just more amplified I suppose.
“I was a bit away with the fairies at the time to be honest.”
Armed with the full information, Thyer then started facing up to the prospect that his playing career might be over.
“I was thinking it was a good job I had done my degree before I took up rugby otherwise I would be in a bad situation now,” he said.
“I started to look up jobs. I borrowed an iPad off the guy next to me because I couldn’t see the screen on my phone as my vision was affected. I had to put it on massive old people font size.
“I did a degree in computer science so I looked at a few things in that area and I did my CV.”
But that was as far as he got in looking for an alternative career, as he began to realise it might not be the end of the road rugby-wise.
After undergoing blood-thinning treatment to clear the clot, it was then a case of seeking expert opinion and surveying his options.
“I just wanted to get everything in black and white,” he said.
“The medical staff at the Blues were amazing and the specialists at the NHS were very helpful in giving me all the information I needed.
“I wanted to come back to rugby. They always said there was a bit of grey area. There are people that have done it before and people that have decided to leave it.
“After a month I saw a stroke specialist in Merthyr and he said I could start training again.
“I didn’t feel too bad and ramped it up to a level where I was before.
“My co-ordination was a bit off, but I have got that back now.
“It was a pretty tough time but I managed to get through it all right.
“My friends and family have been really supportive.”
He said his mum’s nursing experience had been particularly useful, adding: “Every time I have questioned something she has found out the answer for me.”
After receiving the all-clear from three specialists, Thyer made such progress over the summer he was able to make his comeback in a pre-season friendly against London Scottish in August.
“As soon as the first scrum was over I was just back to normal then,” he said, in matter of fact fashion.
“I was pretty confident, because I had done two or three months’ training at 90% before ramping it up to 100% ahead of the game.
“I haven’t had any symptoms since, touch wood, and no setbacks.
“It’s been quite positive. It’s nice to be back.”
Nice indeed and pretty remarkable.