I Was In A Coma For Two Days – Ireland All-rounder Shane Getkate Recalls Suffering Cardiac Arrest
Updated - 20 Oct 2021, 07:28 PM
The Ireland all-rounder Shane Getkate has opened up about his journey of suffering a cardiac arrest in 2011 and making a comeback in cricket after his life was in danger.
Shane Getkate at the age of 8 or 9 was diagnosed with Wolff-Parkinson-White a reasonably common heat-related illness and although he recovered the disease caused a lot of problems for him in his life and in 2011 during a match, it almost claimed his life.
“I’ve had Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome all my life, but it was never an issue until that day. Maybe once or twice a year my heart would go a bit quick, but I’d chill out, put an ice pack on my neck for 20 or 30 minutes and my heart rate would go back down,” Getkate told BBC.
Shane Getkate further added that he was in a coma for two days and if the medical team didn’t reach out to him in time he wouldn’t have survived. He stated:
“On that day it was hot. I bowled my spell, sat down next to the coach and I wasn’t feeling great. The next minute I was on the deck. Paramedics came in a helicopter. They used the defibrillator on me twice. I was in a coma for two days. I’m lucky the paramedics got to me so quickly. If they had been five or 10 minutes later, I wouldn’t be here,”
It Was A Miracle Turnaround – Shane Getkate
The Irish all-rounder also revealed that doctors were sure that he would not be able to play cricket after the incident. He stated:
“The doctors said they were 99% sure I would never play cricket again. As a 19-year-old, that was hard to take.”
However, Getkate was discharged from the hospital 4 weeks later and he started playing cricket and now he is the part of Ireland National Cricket Team and has played 23 ODIs and 4 T20Is Shane Getkate stated:
“It was a miracle turnaround. That first warm-up, when I was running, I was absolutely bricking it. I thought I was going to go down again. It took a while to build that confidence up. I was so happy to be playing again and I’ve had no issues since,” said the 30-year-old further.
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Ireland National Cricket Team
