‘I saw what could have happened to me’ – teenager
THE world watched in horror on Saturday as Danish midfielder Christian Eriksen collapsed on the Euro 2020 pitch.
But there will have been few hit as hard by the shocking scenes as 17-year-old Aaron Spence, from Winlaton – who knew all too well what the footballer was going through.
In April, Aaron’s life changed forever when he fainted during classes at Newcastle College, where he was training to be a mechanic.
At first, he thought it was nothing, but when mum Deborah Morris, called in by college staff, suggested they get him checked out at hospital, Aaron reluctantly agreed.
It was a decision which might have saved his life, as staff at Newcastle’s Royal Victoria Infirmary quickly realised the teenager was suffering from a serious heart condition. Aaron spent the next month in hospital, where he was diagnosed with Brugada syndrome, a rare inherited disorder which can cause the heart to beat dangerously fast and may prove fatal.
The fit and active teen had to undergo an operation to install an implantable cardiac defibrillator in his chest and is still adjusting to the changes it has wrought in his life, including ending his ambitions of becoming a mechanic as he must now stay away from magnetic devices.
As he watched Saturday’s events unfold on the pitch, the teenager was forced to reflect on how close he’d come to death himself.
Aaron said: “I watched it live. I was just sat there and my dad went ‘look, what’s happening?’ and right in front of my eyes I saw what could have happened to me. It just hit home, almost immediately, especially when the defibrillator got used, and you saw his wife and his kids. I’ve never been so scared by something I’ve just been watching. It was horrible.
“He will probably be having the same tests as I had, which were really scary, I almost know what he’s going through and I genuinely feel bad for him because I know
what it’s like.”
It has now been confirmed that Christian Eriksen is in a stable condition in hospital, though it’s not yet clear what the cause of his cardiac arrest was. Reading the news about the midfielder reminded Aaron of the difficult adjustment
he’d had to make, going from a healthy, sporty young man to a heart patient in just a few terrifying hours.
“I thought I was a completely fit lad, I just played football like anybody else, then all of a sudden you find something like this out and it completely changes your life,” he said. “I’m actually praying for Eriksen that he’s not diagnosed with what I have because I wouldn’t wish it on anybody in the world.”
Aaron decided to speak out about his experience in the hope of encouraging others to take heart condition symptoms seriously.
He said: “At first I just thought ‘nah, I’m alright, I’ll just go home and lie down’. If I’d done that, if I hadn’t got it checked, within the next few years I probably wouldn’t be here anymore. I’m so glad we got it checked. What I’ve learnt from this is never to take life for granted, because everything can change in a second. I thought I was going to walk out of that hospital that day – I didn’t think it would be a month later with a defibrillator in my chest.”
Aaron’s mum Deborah, 40, says hardly a day goes by when she doesn’t think about what could have happened if Aaron’s condition hadn’t been caught by doctors.
“It’s constantly in my head,” she said.
“I just want people to know that if anything like this happens, you should get it checked out. Don’t take anything lightly, because at the end of the day it could be a lifethreatening thing.”
She also hopes to encourage people to become more aware of potentially life-saving techniques like CPR and the use of public defibrillators to help those who go into cardiac arrest.
Deborah said: “The only thing that brought Eriksen back was the defibrillator, and when I saw what happened it made me think that people need to be more aware of what to do with these things.”
CORONAVIRUS cases are continuing to rise across the North East amid the Prime Minister’s delay to the easing of lockdown.
Government data shows cases are increasing in Northumberland, North Tyneside, South Tyneside, Gateshead, Sunderland, Newcastle and County Durham.
Northumberland has seen a 384% increase in cases in just one week, with 305 cases.
It is followed by County Durham, which saw cases increase by more than 220% in the seven days leading up to June 9, while Sunderland cases jumped by more than 130%.
North Tyneside, which has struggled with the spread of the Delta variant, has the highest infection rate in the region at 112.5 per 100,000 of population.
The Delta variant now accounts for 90% of the UK cases and its
rapid spread resulted in Boris Johnson announcing the delay in the easing of lockdown on Monday.
The final stage of easing lockdown restrictions in England is to be delayed until July 19.
England will remain at step 3 of the PM’S ‘roadmap’ – limiting indoor parties to six people and meaning nightclubs must stay closed.
Mask use will continue in shops and on public transport, workfrom-home guidance will stay in place, and table service remains in pubs.
But thousands of couples will get a reprieve – as weddings and receptions will be allowed to go ahead with more than 30 attendees.
Rules on wakes and care home visits will also be relaxed slightly from next Monday.
The Prime Minister took the decision after scientists warned pushing ahead risked a surge in hospital cases as bad as the first wave last April.
He said he was “so concerned” that the Delta strain was “spreading faster than the third wave predicted in the February roadmap.”
Back then, scientists had predicted more than 30,000 further Covid deaths between February 2021 and summer 2022.
But the Government has now received advice that the Delta variant, formerly referred to as the Indian variant, is between 40% and 80% more transmissible than the Alpha (Kent) strain – much higher than first thought.