[caption id="attachment_66" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Health scare: Evander Sno was revived after a heart-attack on the field. (Source: SNS Images)"]
[/caption]After only 18 minutes on the field, Sno had collapsed and had to be given a defibrillator three times before he was fully revived. Reserve team coach Albert van der Dussen said "He looked surprised to see so many people standing round him. I don't think Evander realised what was going on but everyone was greatly relieved when it was all over.
"The ambulance crew then took over and took him to hospital."
It'll be interesting to see how his career unfolds after this scare as surely doctors will encourage him to hang his boots up, which is such a shame as he seemed like such a prospect after coming through the ranks in Holland.
However, this isn't the first time that a professional footballer has been on the receiving end of a health scare and unfortunately many modern day footballers have been tragically lost due to unexpected heart attacks.
The big names that people may recognise who have been taken from us include Sevilla's Antonio Puerta, former West Ham United and Manchester City player Marc-Vivien Foé and Motherwell's Phil O'Donnell. Another player who I would like to mention was a player from my supported team, Swansea City, and that is Besian Idrizaj. Besian was only twenty-two years old, as was Puerta, which adds to the shock of their untimely deaths. These players do not form the definitive list either, however one things seems common throughout a lot of these tragic events and that is the cause of death; often to do with the heart.
[caption id="attachment_69" align="aligncenter" width="609" caption="Tragic: Puerta, Foé and Idrizaj all died of sudden heart conditions during their playing careers before they reached their 30s."]
[/caption]We would think that fantastic athletes like the players we watch week in week out would be medically sound, but that is not the case. Heart Specialist Stewart Hillis who works for the SFA in Scotland has outlined the requirement of cardiac screenings for players due to the increased speed and intensity of the game and the training sessions they take part in. "You can be fit but you might not be healthy" Hillis added. It's a shocking revelation to the general public to realise even some of the fittest people in sport can be at risk to health scares like this.
In a paper titled "Causes and Prevention of Sudden Cardiac Death in Young Athletes" by Massimiliano Bianco, Sante Bucari and Paolo Zeppilli, published by the International Boxing Association, the causes of these incidents are investigated. The conditions are categorised as exercise-related sudden death or ESD and are described as unexpected and witnessed sudden cardiac arrest occuring within 1 hour from an exercise bout in an apparently healthy person. The paper also lists the most frequent heart diseases attributed to these conditions. They include Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (Foé's diagnosed condition) and Arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (Puerta's diagnosed condition). They conclude the same sentiments of Hillis - that athletes should be encouraged, if not forced, for cardio screenings to detect these conditions as they can often be concealed rather than overt.
The awareness of this will no doubt be increased due to the well known names suffering - proving that even at the very top, no one is invincible.
Our best wishes go out to Evander Sno for a speedy recovery, and to the friends and family of all of those who have suffered a loss by ESD.
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