In ancient myths, you will find hundreds of stories about the return from death to life.
In fact, there are many who use this metaphorical description, as death describes the end of hope, the extinguishment of dreams, passions and ambitions, and the reason is simply that you will not find anything stronger than death to express the end of everything.
However, in our present time, and without the need for a time machine to take us back to make sure of the veracity of the novel, there is a man who actually died for a few minutes, and everyone cried around him, and afflicted the world on a painful night, but the end of the story was happy, as his heart came back to life.
Then about a year later, beyond old myths, Christian Eriksen fulfills a childhood dream and prepares for another, after months of not dreaming beyond just survival.
"flash back"
Eriksen is lying on his back in the ambulance. An hour or less after his heart has stopped for minutes, he tells his wife that he is leaving his shoes on and announces the end of his football journey with a decision of the heart as a physical member, but it is not of him at all.
No one would have imagined that a day like this would turn into a nightmare, as the second day of Euro 2020, postponed to 2021, begins, and everyone celebrates the return to the arms of football, with its usual atmosphere and public attendance, and international tournaments that carry a special luster, the ones with which the fans remember the childish love of the round and the first snatch , which is more often associated with the World Cup and the Euro than club competitions.
The event was the confrontation of Denmark and Finland, a sunny day, and everyone was in a state of happiness that was disturbed only by the sudden fall of Christian Eriksen, the scene from its beginning was not normal: a player falls in a state of weakness and lack of control over his body, as if he received a bullet in the head.
The voice gradually subsides, and the medical apparatus rushes towards it in order to help it, and here things get worse (1).
The doctor of the Danish team, Martin Boysen, tells how he lived the incident, as he did not witness the moment of the fall, but he realized while heading to Eriksen that he lost consciousness, and when he reached him, he was lying on his side, still breathing and the heart was beating, but suddenly everything turned into a nightmare;
The heart stopped, and attempts began to revive him, amid the tears of thousands of fans, and the internal collapse of colleagues who formed a cover around him so that they would block him from the cameras, and not show him to the world in that terrifying state (2).
Thomas Delaney, Andreas Christensen and Jonas Wind of Denmark are depressed as Christian Eriksen (Hidden) of Denmark receives medical treatment during the UEFA Euro 2020 Group B match between Denmark and Finland (Getty)
The pictures showed Eriksen opening his eyes while lying on the stretcher before leaving the stadium. The world was relatively reassured when he arrived at the hospital and regained consciousness, and he was able to reassure his colleagues on him himself after the decision to complete the match, as he informed them of the need to continue the championship, and perhaps this was the reason for an exceptional copy of Denmark In the Euro by reaching the semi-finals (3).
The shock was strong for everyone. It was a tragedy in the true sense of the word, to see a player in the prime of his youth preparing to play a match, and suddenly he fell to the ground as if he was a dead body.
For the Danish people, the shock was more severe than the one that the world received, not only because he is their citizen, not even because he is the star of their country’s team, but because he is a son, brother and friend of the entire people. .
not normal
"I still remember it vividly, seeing this little boy for the first time, his steps on the stairs in the lobby of a hotel in Greece. It was February 2009"
Troels Henriksen, Danish reporter
Troels Henriksen, a reporter for a Danish newspaper, gave an interview to the British newspaper The Guardian immediately after the incident, during which she recounted what Eriksen looks like to the Danish people.
Henriksen said that in 2009 she traveled to the Greek capital Athens to cover the Denmark-Greece match, a match that was not important at all, to the extent that the Danish team played it with the under-17 team (4).
At the time a friend's reporter advised her to follow boy prodigy Christian Eriksen during the match.
At the time, it was the first time she saw him, and she remembered the details of the meeting until the moment she had the conversation.
Henriksen spoke of Eriksen's shyness in their first meeting, to the point that he told her that his biggest concern was that he would not be able to wash his clothes alone in Amsterdam, imagine that this was his answer to the question of what the move to Ajax looks like? (5)
One year after that meeting, Eriksen was called up to participate with Denmark in the 2010 World Cup, as the youngest player in the tournament at the age of only 17 years, and from here he began to turn into a "people's hero" to the extent that comparisons between him and the country's legend Michael Laudrup begin before he completes Teenage Christian eighteen years old!
Denmark coach Morten Olsen directs Christian Eriksen (right) during the 2010 World Cup Group E soccer match (Reuters)
Everyone knew that the comparison with Laudrup is a heavy burden on a young teenager, but Henriksen justified this by the existence of an emotional state for the Danes who lived with him the whole journey, where his growth and development, for them was their son who turned from a child into the dream of the people, so their hopes depended on him Over the years, he and their dreams grew up together, and like that, his downfall and the mere thought of the possibility of him leaving life hurt them more than the rest of the world that suffered with them in front of that tragic scene (6).
Returning to the arms of the people occurred 287 days after that incident, at which time Eriksen appeared in the Denmark shirt for the first time since his heart stopped, and that was at the Johan Cruyff Arena in a friendly match against the Dutch national team, the stadium where he has wonderful memories during his trip with Ajax after he knew How does he wash his clothes on his own?
There all feelings mingled;
Memories of Ajax, the feel of the national team shirt that fell while he was wearing it, his association with the people and his dreams;
The movie scene ended with a goal he scored after only two minutes of entering it, and everyone applauded, and their hearts applauded as well (7).
Before returning to the arms of the people
During the 287-day period between Eriksen's last appearance before the accident and his first appearance after it, a lot of things changed, rather Christian lived another life parallel to his life, in which his dreams and desires fluctuated between just staying alive and returning to the past and football.
Perhaps he forgot what he told his wife in the ambulance, as if nothing had happened.
At first, the only desire was to recover from the consequences of a cardiac arrest for a few minutes, after which the body could not immediately return to normal.
On the night of Eriksen's cardiac arrest, he sent a message via WhatsApp to reassure his Italian teammates, with whom he celebrated his victory in the Italian League only a few weeks ago under the leadership of coach Antonio Conte (8).
Christian Eriksen (Reuters)
Italy has very high standards when it comes to cardiac examinations.
The death of Renato Cori, a Perugia midfielder, who suffered a heart attack during a match against Juventus in 1977;
deep effect.
Subsequently, a closer examination revealed a defect in the heart of the Nigerian "Nwankwo Kanu" when he joined Inter Milan from Ajax in 1996, then "Massimo Moratti", the owner of Inter, sent "Kanu" to a specialist in Ohio and was able to resume his career in Italy(9)(10).
But the sensitivities have increased since Livorno midfielder Piermario Morosini suffered a heart attack on the field in 2012 and died on the spot. David Astori, captain of Fiorentina, also passed away because of the same thing while sleeping in the team’s hotel on the morning of a match against Udinese in 2018 ( 11)(12).
This made Eriksen realize that his future with football which was still just a possibility could not be in Milan, because in Italy you are not even allowed to go to the gym with a pacemaker, and that according to medical protocols it will be a gateway between hope and return. to England or play in one of the Scandinavian countries.
Despite all the feelings that began linking him to the Nerazzurri and his fans, he will leave them after he almost died his whole life.
Eriksen has theoretically left Inter, his salary has been covered by UEFA, and started training across the border in Switzerland as a guest at Chiasso, an hour's drive from Milan, a period where he is only trying to train until he is fit before talking about anything later.
After reassuring that he could play football again, his agent announced that several European clubs had begun negotiating with him.
Eriksen has discussed the possibility of returning to football with his family, and revealed in a press conference after joining Brentford that they had spoken to a psychiatrist who helped them overcome their trauma.
The player also contacted Ajax defender Daley Blind, who also plays with a pacemaker, to find out how he returned to football after suffering a heart infection in 2019 (13) (14).
In January 2022, the English club Brentford moved, led by coach Thomas Frank, who trained Eriksen with the Denmark under-17 team;
to contract with Ericsson.
For the player, it was perfect;
A club coached by a man who knows him, and back to London, where he lived for 7 years while playing with Tottenham, he also partnered with Brentford players Matthias Jensen, Jonas Losel, Christian Norgaard and Matthias Jorgensen with his country.
Here came the return again to the ball, and only two months later, to the national team, where the match against Holland, whose story we told you, started a new dream for Christian to represent his country in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Only 6 months, during which Eriksen regained himself with Brentford, refused to complete the trip despite their adherence to him and offered the highest salary in the club's history, to end up looking for a step back to the ranks of adults.
Wait a minute, is everything back to the way it was?
In fact, this is no longer the case, and of course the specter of a repetition of this catastrophe seems sufficient for all efforts to be combined so that it does not happen again, and this is what has already happened and is happening at the present time.
Is the danger over?
On August 3, 2021, the Premier League announced a new law providing for the provision of funds for automated external defibrillators in thousands of popular football clubs and facilities in England, and commented that more than 2,000 clubs and facilities would benefit from this, The association had discussed this earlier, but the Eriksen incident was a turning point that led to the acceleration of funding (15).
Of course, that was the green light for Eriksen's return to England from the Brentford gate, but the club that was promoted in 2021 for the Premier League was only a step for the Danish star towards the lights of the English championship, which he knows well, but this time from the gate, which he admitted is the dream of his life;
Manchester United.
Everyone loves those stories where the hero comes back from death to life, and even waiting for that happy ending once their hero starts to beat that fearsome monster.
Now Eriksen is already back, which will make everyone join hands so that this tragedy does not happen again, and so that the hero continues his journey with enough passion, and without fear of the nightmare of the past.
From a medical perspective, the head of the cardiology department at Aspetar Sports Hospital in Doha, "Guido Bellis", explains how these nightmares will be prevented in advance before the World Cup, as he confirmed in his interview to "The Athletic" that he had been asked by FIFA to supervise the implementation of a testing service. Heart assigned 24/7 at this year's World Cup(16).
When trying to find out the cause of cardiac arrest, Professor Bellis explains that there are hereditary heart diseases, those diseases that people are born with due to genetic mutations but do not always appear, and are often latent, so people may have the gene and not the disease itself, but in the case of athletes who They stress the heart because of strenuous exercise, there is a greater chance of these genetic diseases developing, which is one reason why the risk of sudden cardiac arrest is higher in athletes, compared to the average person who does not engage in strenuous physical activities (17).
So according to Bellis, it is very important to make sure we know the underlying cause of cardiac arrest, is it just a transient blockage of the coronary arteries that supply the heart?
Is it inflammation of the heart?
Or is it another diagnosis?
This is in order to make sure that we can deal with the player who has suffered a sudden cardiac arrest in an optimal way, which allows him to practice sports again without risking his life.
Professor Bellis stresses that once a player has made up his mind and is back in competition, he must be closely monitored for the remainder of his career, and possibly even beyond.
Athletes need a full arsenal of tests every 6 months, whether electrocardiogram, cardiac ultrasound, MRI scan and exercise assessment.
Therefore, Eriksen's life will never be what it was before, he will always need to make sure he is fully recovered in order to resume his career with the ball that he takes so much pain just to play.
Therefore, just as Eriksen had to undergo a rigorous medical examination before completing his move to Manchester United, the club will provide special care to him and the players, especially those who have gone through a similar experience with the heart.
What's new at Carrington's training base - Manchester United's training center - this season is an environmentally friendly ambulance, and the club insists on the presence of additional paramedics as safety measures, with more than 100 additional staff to provide full protection (18).
beyond the dream
The path of dreams is not strewn with roses, and so was Eriksen's path to achieving the dreams of his life after his heart left them for a few minutes and returned to them again.
dreams?
Of course, dreams. The man himself admitted that he only thought about representing his country in the World Cup after he was given the green light to return to the ball, and he did not think twice after Manchester United offered him to wear his shirt, how not, and he himself spoke with both Louis van Gaal Jose Mourinho and Solskjaer during their training period for the Red Devils?!
One coach leaves and another comes, and United live catastrophic periods after another, but the heart of the Danish boy remains attached to Old Trafford, what a dream, man!(19)(20)
And the World Cup?
Remember his story with the Danish people, a whole people who see in you the superhero, their hearts stop when your heart stops, they cry just because you might die, and they cry more happy that you survived that.
What do you expect from Eriksen after all that when he realizes that he will be the ambassador of their dreams in the World Cup?
What a challenge we all love to take on!
Beyond the dream will likely not be as cinematic as the story has been since its inception;
Manchester United is living its worst days at the start of the new season, and often you will not see Eriksen holding a cup at the end of the season, and there will not be a great chance for Denmark to win the World Cup as well, but despite that, reaching that stage remains the greatest thing;
The journey from death to a dream of life seems more exciting than anything the story ends in, simply because anything that happens will be so much better than we thought we and Eriksen would live after a year and a half after his heart stopped and everyone cried.
—————————————————————————————-
Sources
1 - What caused Christian Eriksen's downfall?
- The Independent
2 - Christian Eriksen's first comment after his horror moments
3 - How did Christian Eriksen stabilize in hospital after the collapse?
- treacherous
4 - A scene from Denmark: Eriksen is one of us and this is why we are so hurt - The Guardian
5- Previous source
6 - previous source
7 - Eriksen returns to Denmark after 287 days of losing to Finland
8 - Christian Eriksen: From near death to Manchester United - The Athletic
9 - Previous source
10 - Previous source
11 - Previous Source
12 - Previous source
13 - Previous Source
14 - Previous Source
15 - The English Premier League issues a new law providing funds for defibrillators
16 - Christian Eriksen: From near death to Manchester United - The Athletic
17 - Previous Source
18 - Previous Source
19 - Eriksen dreams of a World Cup after returning to football
20 - Christian Eriksen: How the tiny device led to his 'miracle' football comeback - BBC