Ghana striker Raphael Dwamena has died aged 28 after collapsing on the pitch during a league match in Albania.

[horsechoker]

Rest in peace

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/67394325

In 2017 a proposed £14m move to Brighton fell through after Dwamena failed a medical. He went on to represent Levante in La Liga and also played for Real Zaragoza on loan.

In 2021 he collapsed during a cup match in Austria between his side Blau-Weiss Linz and Hartberg, but recovered and continued his playing career.

He reportedly had a heart operation and had an automatic defibrillator implanted.

Maybe we need to keep a closer eye on Eriksen

 

[Penna]

It's so sad. I'm surprised to read that he'd already had a procedure to correct his heart rhythm problem - I suppose it's always a risk to continue high-level sport after you've had a cardiac issue diagnosed.

 

[Yakuza_devils]

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.da...llator-REMOVED-year-collapsed-died-pitch.html

RIP. So sad to hear this.

 

[Alex99]

Read earlier that he had his contract at three clubs effectively terminated because of his condition making it too dangerous for him to play, and a doctor related to either CAF or the Ghana national team advised him to retire because of the risks.

Seems like he just wanted to keep playing. Awfully sad and absolutely no age.

 

[Baxquux]

It's so sad. I'm surprised to read that he'd already had a procedure to correct his heart rhythm problem - I suppose it's always a risk to continue high-level sport after you've had a cardiac issue diagnosed.

This is why I can forgive Eriksen for not necessarily wanting to go full throttle (he's not a player that you'd hope to rely upon for speed anyway) against some of these quicker midfields in terms of tracking every run or closing down all the time, or making many runs behind. The flipside is he should only be playing certain games and used to try and control them, whilst we ought to have a better midfield balance.

More broadly, and maybe it was just never publicized in the same way back in the day, but more players seem to have heart issues since 2000: something about sports medicine and physio advances not necessarily keeping pace with demands on athletes to play high intensity style...

 

[Sara125]

Is it me or are heart problems becoming more prominent in young people, weirdly more so for athletes who you’d imagine are some of the most healthy people in society?

 

[Withnail]

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.da...llator-REMOVED-year-collapsed-died-pitch.html

RIP. So sad to hear this.

It seems like a strange decision to have the defib removed on the face of it. I wonder what his reasoning was.

 

[Cloud7]

Is it me or are heart problems becoming more prominent in young people, weirdly more so for athletes who you’d imagine are some of the most healthy people in society?

The level of exercise that these guys do paradoxically makes them more prone to heart issues than your average person. I did a presentation on this recently. Too much exercise is a thing, and the level of exercise in high level sport puts you at risk for heart problems in all sorts of ways, and to add to it if you have something congenital that might be otherwise benign if you lived a normal life, being a high level athlete carries a higher risk of it becoming dangerous.

With the way football is going, with how athletic it is and how intense I imagine the training regimes are, there may very well be more cases going forward.

 

[Alex99]

It seems like a strange decision to have the defib removed on the face of it. I wonder what his reasoning was.

I read earlier that one of the clubs stopped him playing because of the readings it was giving them.

Might be simply so it was "out of sight, out of mind", as it were.

 

[PoTMS]

RIP. The COVID/antivaxx conspiracy folk would be all over this were it not for the heart problem being diagnosed in 2017.

 

[matherto]

Is it not a combination of better medical science, technology and awareness meaning more players will go to get checked and issues will get caught?

 

[Skills]

Is it me or are heart problems becoming more prominent in young people, weirdly more so for athletes who you’d imagine are some of the most healthy people in society?

Yup feels like it. One of my classmates from uni passed away just over a month ago from sudden cardiac arrest caused by undiagnosed cardiomyopathy. Took everyone by shock - healthy/fit guy, randomly passed away.

 

[MDFC Manager]

This is why I can forgive Eriksen for not necessarily wanting to go full throttle (he's not a player that you'd hope to rely upon for speed anyway) against some of these quicker midfields in terms of tracking every run or closing down all the time, or making many runs behind. The flipside is he should only be playing certain games and used to try and control them, whilst we ought to have a better midfield balance.

Someone posted stats on here recently which mentioned Eriksen as one of the furthest runners in the team.

 

[Red Star One]

Is it not a combination of better medical science, technology and awareness meaning more players will go to get checked and issues will get caught?

Well in this case the issue was caught, but ignored.

 

[Infra-red]

RIP. The COVID/antivaxx conspiracy folk would be all over this were it not for the heart problem being diagnosed in 2017.

They won't let trivial things like 'facts' and 'logic' get in the way of their conspiracy bollocks. They never have previously, anyway.

 

[Jeffthered]

Is it me or are heart problems becoming more prominent in young people, weirdly more so for athletes who you’d imagine are some of the most healthy people in society?

I have been thinking that something's been going on for some time. It's very strange. I wonder whether this is the case with American sports.. I think it may be.

 

[Snow]

It's so sad. I'm surprised to read that he'd already had a procedure to correct his heart rhythm problem - I suppose it's always a risk to continue high-level sport after you've had a cardiac issue diagnosed.

The risk in his case was reverting his operation that helped with his heart rhythm problem and then returning to his high octane profession.

 

[owlo]

RIP. Seems he knew the risks, went in eyes wide open, and enjoyed every day no matter. Not a decision id want a friend or relative to make, but his personal choice nonetheless.

Hope his family aren’t hurting too much.

 

[Vidyoyo]

RIP. The COVID/antivaxx conspiracy folk would be all over this were it not for the heart problem being diagnosed in 2017.

So you're saying he was Patient zero?

 

[G3079]

This Swiss article, written in 2022 when he was still alive, holds a lot of additional information: https://www.nzz.ch/sport/wenn-ich-s...ena-und-sein-kampf-um-die-karriere-ld.1707418

TL;DR since it is written in German:
- heart problems (arrythmia caused by a scar on it) were first diagnosed when his switch to Brighton fell through because of it
- he kept playing for Zurich and Levante without issues
- when loaned to Saragossa, they made him getting a defíbrillator implanted mandatory to hiring him, which he did
- he then collapsed twice on the pitch in the following years, according to Dwamena because the defibrillator malfunctioned
- this caused him to have the defibrillator removed again, and against the advice of medical professionals, family, friends and his agent he continued to play football because he thought he is healthy, the doctors were contradicting each other, and he trusted in god's plan and that whatever happens will happen according to it

So that is pretty much the story behind why he was playing with heart problems, without his implant, and why what happened was just a matter of time. He made his choice and I respect his bodily autonomy to make this decision.
My condolences go out to his friends and family. May they find strength in these days.

 

[Ace of Spades]

R.I.P.

 

[Acrobat7]

This Swiss article, written in 2022 when he was still alive, holds a lot of additional information: https://www.nzz.ch/sport/wenn-ich-s...ena-und-sein-kampf-um-die-karriere-ld.1707418

TL;DR since it is written in German:
- heart problems (arrythmia caused by a scar on it) were first diagnosed when his switch to Brighton fell through because of it
- he kept playing for Zurich and Levante without issues
- when loaned to Saragossa, they made him getting a defíbrillator implanted mandatory to hiring him, which he did
- he then collapsed twice on the pitch in the following years, according to Dwamena because the defibrillator malfunctioned
- this caused him to have the defibrillator removed again, and against the advice of medical professionals, family, friends and his agent he continued to play football because he thought he is healthy, the doctors were contradicting each other, and he trusted in god's plan and that whatever happens will happen according to it

So that is pretty much the story behind why he was playing with heart problems, without his implant, and why what happened was just a matter of time. He made his choice and I respect his bodily autonomy to make this decision.
My condolences go out to his friends and family. May they find strength in these days.

I must choose my words carefully: I feel for his family and friends who have to grieve for him.

 

[Yakuza_devils]

His love for football was extraordinary. Football was everything to him. Football was his life. He took the gamble and unfortunately paid with his life.

The broader question is how was he still allowed to play after removing the debriflitor especially given his health history? The football authorities need to do more? No one should risk their life playing football especially someone with "high risk".

 

[Hoof the ball]

From British Heart Foundation and National, Heart, Lung & Blood Institute

https://www.bhf.org.uk/what-we-do/our-research/research-successes/heart-problems-in-black-athletes
https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/news/2023...ate-sudden-cardiac-arrest-black-male-athletes

Sadly, athletes of African and Caribbean origin have to be extra dilligent in looking after themselves in general.