‘I’ll never forget my first Champions League final because I nearly died’
Minor calf injury turned into serious illness for Manchester City fan
AMANCHESTER City fan who travelled to watch his team in the Champions League final almost lost his leg when he got back - after developing lifethreatening blood clots.
Alan Sharp, 39, made the trip to Porto to watch his beloved Blues in the showpiece game against Chelsea at the end of May.
However the dad-oftwo from Middleton now says it almost cost him his leg - and potentially even his life - after a seemingly minor calf injury was found to have led to clots forming in his right leg.
He was rushed to hospital just hours after returning and was forced to undergo two sets of emergency surgery in order to save his leg. He remains housebound as he continues his long recovery.
Lifelong Blue Alan now believes spending hours sat on the coach and plane bringing him back from Porto may have contributed to him suffering from the condition - said to be rare for someone of his age and fitness.
However, he said he has no regrets about going, with his ordeal meaning he won’t forget it in a hurry.
The fitness fanatic and self-confessed ‘gym rat’ said he injured his calf 10 days before the highlyanticipated final.
Alan, a self-employed courier, believed at the time it was merely a calf strain.
And despite being in some pain and discomfort, he said he was not going to let it stand in his way when the Blues beat Paris St Germain to reach the final, the first in the club’s history.
“I just thought I’d done my calf,” he said.
“Obviously I was annoyed and I thought, ‘I can’t believe I’ve done this’.
“But I wasn’t too concerned.
“And when City got to the final, even though I knew it might be a bit painful, I thought you’re not missing the Champions League final for a calf injury if you’re not playing.”
Alan travelled to Porto with a group of pals on one of the dozens of club funded flights as part of an organised trip that ferried fans to Portugal on the day of the game, Saturday, May 28, and back the following day.
“My leg basically deteriorated throughout the day as I was walking,” he said.
“There wasn’t anywhere to sit down in the fan zone so I was just walking around and was limping like mad.
“We made our way to the ground and I won’t even mention the game.
“We all know what happened.
“But afterwards it was a bit of a complete fiasco really.”
Alan said he spent two hours sat on a coach outside the ground waiting to be taken to the airport and was told he wasn’t able to get off and stretch his legs.
He then also spent two and a quarter hours sat on the plane on the runway at Porto airport waiting to take off and twenty minutes on the runway at Manchester waiting to taxi to the terminal.
A few hours after returning to Manchester around 7.30am the next morning he travelled to Blackpool where his wife Kelly, 42, and kids Thomas, 10, and Sophia six were staying.
But that’s when his condition began to deteriorate even more quickly.
“It was a red hot weekend,” Alan said “but the Sunday night, my foot was freezing and throbbing.
“I was putting in buckets of warm water to try and warm it up get the circulation going.
The following morning Alan decided to visit the A&E department at Blackpool’s Victoria Hospital where they initially thought he had deep vein thrombosis (DVT).
A scan found he didn’t have that but did have blood clots in his leg, and he was transferred to the specialist vascular department at the Royal Preston
Hospital. “Alarm bells were ringing at this point,” Alan said.
“The consultant came in, sat me down and said they’d found numerous, severe clots.
“I live in the gym, I’m in there six days a week normally, lifting, boxing, everything really.
“And he said for someone of my age, they shouldn’t be seeing it.
“He said they weren’t sure when it had started, whether it was the injury or something that had happened in the last few days.
“He said it could be genetic but there was nothing jumping out at them, so it was most likely a coming together of circumstances, with the injury and swelling, the walking around, the being sat down for seven hours, combined with a bit of alcohol, and its clotted.
“He said there was the potential I could lose my leg if they didn’t operate.
“He said if they didn’t remove the clots my leg would be dead within a couple of weeks.
“But he said he couldn’t guarantee he could get the clots out.
“And he also said he had to advise me when they opened my artery there was a chance one of these clots could shoot straight to my brain or heart, which would kill me.
“So my head was spinning at this stage.
“I couldn’t believe what I was hearing really. I’ll be honest I was s******g myself. I was petrified.
“I asked what my chances were of saving my leg and he said about 50/50.
“I thought to myself ‘three weeks ago I was in the gym and a few days ago I was enjoying myself at the match, how’s it got to this. I’ve spoken to loads of doctors since and they are still scratching their heads.
“Basically I nearly lost my leg by going to the Champions League final.”
He also had to be put into self-isolation inside the hospital after track and trace contacted him to say someone on his flight back from Porto had tested positive for coronavirus.
Alan underwent two operations - one to remove the clots and a second where large incisions were made in his leg, creating open wounds, in order to ease pressure on muscles and nerves in his leg, known as compartment syndrome.
In total, he spent over two weeks in hospital and before being released continuing his recovery at home where he remains, currently unable to work.
“The doctors and nurses were absolutely worldclass, the care they gave me was absolutely outstanding.
“They saved my life and I can’t thank them enough” he said.
He is now urging anyone who has pain in their legs, particularly, if they experience coldness in their feet that hurts, to get themselves checked out as soon as possible.
However despite his ordeal, and City slipping to a heartbreaking 1-0 defeat to Chelsea in the game, Alan said he has no regrets about the trip.
“When they told me I had the clots, one of the nurses who was a football fan asked me ‘what would you do if the final was tomorrow?’
“And I said I’d be sneaking out this hospital and getting on that plane.
‘It’s been a bit of a blur since really. You can’t have regrets.
“But I just look back on it and think I will certainly never forget my first Champions League final because I almost died.”