CARLTON: I ‘DIED TWICE’ IN MY OP
BY JOHN RICHARDSON CARLTON PALMER beams with pride after completing a speedy 5km run, evoking memories of his stamina in an England shirt.
But wearing the Three Lions top in a veteran game almost ended his life.
It is why, he insists, football must continue to wheel out defibrillators at all grounds and in training.
After his playing career, Palmer and family enjoyed a spell living in China.
But the former West Brom and Sheffield Wednesday star (above), who won 18 England caps, kept ignoring warning signs about his heart.
“When I was holidaying in Portugal, I had gone out running. And when I came back, my mum said to me she thought there was something wrong with my breathing,” he recalled. “My wife Lucy had been telling me for years that there was something wrong with my breathing.”
While in Shanghai, he made a trip to the doctors.
“I had a turn in
Shanghai. I went to see a doctor, got checked out and was told nothing was wrong, my heart was fine,” Palmer explained.
“Then Paul Parker invited me to play for an England vets team against Germany, in Singapore. Lucy didn’t want me to go, but I argued that everything was fine.”
During the game, he collapsed and was rushed to hospital. “They had to bring me back to life twice,” he said.
Palmer, 56, was allowed to fly back to his Singapore base, but knowing he needed an op. “I wanted to come back to the UK for the op, only to be told by a doctor that I wouldn’t survive the flight – they needed to do it then.
He added: “So I had a seven-and-a-half op. The heart problem changed my outlook on life. For the first time, I was looking back on my career thinking, ‘For a lanky kid from the
Midlands to play for his hometown club, 18 times for England, Sheffield Wednesday in cup finals, become a millionaire, you haven’t done badly, kid’.”
Now it’s about enjoying himself, coupled with some media work for talkSPORT. And he’s still running. “I’m brand new now, I’ve just run 5km in 21 minutes. All the boxes have been ticked,” he added.