DR WALLER ON MOMO'S AMAZING RECOVERY Paul Eaton 21 March 2006 Club doctor Mark Waller talks to Liverpoolfc.tv about how Momo Sissoko has recovered from a potentially career threatening eye injury. Liverpoolfc.tv: What were your first thoughts when you saw Momo lying on the field in Benfica? Mark Waller: Our physio Rob Pryce was on the pitch before I was and he radioed back to me that he had some concerns. Momo was in a lot of pain but he'd also cut his eye-lid, which can be quite a serious problem. One of the problems you can get with a bad eye injury is that the eye-lid can go into a reflex spasm so you cannot open your eye. If that happens then it usually means you have a serious eye problem. Momo couldn't open his right eye so it was evident very swiftly that there was no way he was carrying on playing. He was placed on the stretcher and then taken into the dressing room. When you have a serious eye injury it's sometimes difficult to localise where the pain is. He had pains in his head and in his neck. We actually treated him as though he had a neck injury and so he was placed appropriately onto a spinal board, he had a collar on and was taken to hospital. At the hospital we did numerous scans over a couple of hours and then we found out what the diagnosis was. You're in a foreign country when faced with a serious injury, do you have plans in place to get to a hospital quickly? We have a basic plan of what we'll do. If it's a serious injury, whether it's at home or abroad, then I will go with that individual player. That means I can discuss things with the medical staff and I can also say I want a particular investigation carried out. I don't speak any Portuguese but some of the staff in the hospital spoke some English. Dr Waller on early thoughts In the first 24 hours we had to listen to the opinion of one eminent specialist, who knows far more about the conditionthan I do, but we decided we weren't going to accept that a 21 year old had an injury that was not going to allow him to play football again. We tried to find out if there was any way in which we could enhance the healing process. Prior to going to the hospital we discussed with the Benfica doctor which would be the best place to go. Whenever we go for a game abroad I always speak with the medical staff before the game so that if we do get a serious problem then we'll know where to go, whether it be a local hospital, a spinal unit, an orthopaedic unit or, in this case, an ophthalmology unit. In view of the injury he got prior to us leaving the ground, the doctor in Benfica telephoned the hospital to tell them we were coming. The Benfica staff were excellent. After the game their club secretary and club doctor came to the hospital because we were obviously very concerned about the situation. The Benfica doctor spoke good English so he could do the translation both ways at the hospital. At about 1am he'd had some pain relief and was able to sleep while I went back to the hotel we had checked out of just a number of hours earlier. How did events then unfold in Portugal before you flew home? We had a discussion on the best way to manage Momo. It's been well publicised that one of the doctors in the unit over there did a press conference soon after we left the hospital stating that the best case scenario was that Momo could only get back 20 per cent vision and that there was no treatment for his condition. We were not prepared to accept that. I was in touch with a number of people in England and, following different conversations with different people, I gave Momo a certain amount of treatment out there. We flew back later that afternoon and at 8.30am on Thursday morning we were in the St Paul's eye unit in the University Hospital in Liverpool. He was in the care of Professor David Wong. I must say that the care we were given was exceptional. They were extremely competent and very thoughtful towards Momo with regards to his condition and also his occupation. They gave us extremely good attention and nothing has been too much trouble for them. Was flying back to England from Portugal a problem? The worry was that because the injury was due to pressure, to fly him back on a depressurised plane might cause a problem. In the end it didn't but that was something we had discussed with experts before we left. It's a long way to drive back to England from Lisbon or even to take a train, but we'd have done that if we felt flying was a risk. Did you fear the worst about his long term eyesight? In the early stages of anything you have to be realistic but optimistic. We were realistic enough to understand he had a very serious retinal injury. But in the very early stages of anything you don't want to be pessimistic about it because in medicine you never know what is going to happen. In the first 24 hours we had to listen to the opinion of one eminent specialist, who knows far more about the condition than I do, but we decided we weren't going to accept that a 21 year old had an injury that was not going to allow him to play football again. We tried to find out if there was any way in which we could enhance the healing process. How was Momo at that time? Dr Waller on Momo's recovery On the day of the injury and on the day after if you shone a torch into his eye from two or three centimetres away he couldn't see it. A very bright light being directed into his eye from close range was just blank to him. Basically he was totally blind in his right eye for the first 36 hours. He had treatment initiated in Lisbon which was then continued over here which I feel has contributed to the success we have had so far. He'd had a discussion with the Professor in Lisbon who had been very honest with him about what his opinion was. All I said was that we would bring him back to England and seek opinions that would give him the best opportunity, not just to play football again, but to play again as soon as possible. We tried to be as optimistic as we could but, at the same time, you can't tell lies. I would never say to a player I could guarantee we would get him right again. I just told Momo we would do our best and get the best people to see him. Back in England he started to improve... The improvement that we had in the first three to four days made me more and more optimistic that we were going to get a good result for him. Where are we up to now in his recovery? He has said that he is 80 per cent recovered and I think that's about right so far. We're still working to keep improving it further. It sounds like a miracle... On the day of the injury and on the day after if you shone a torch into his eye from two or three centimetres away he couldn't see it. A very bright light being directed into his eye from close range was just blank to him. Basically he was totally blind in his right eye for the first 36 hours. He had treatment initiated in Lisbon which was then continued over here which I feel has contributed to the success we have had so far. Is he ready to play football again now? Provided you have what we call 6/18 vision or binocular vision then you can play football. His is much better than that. It's sufficient to drive and sufficient for him to play football. We're going to get some eye protection for him similar to the device Edgar Davids wears. Will you keep testing him over the coming weeks? Yes. He'll be having more scans and picturesof his retina done over the next 4-6 weeks, How unlucky was he to get this injury playing football? He was very unlucky. Usually you associate this kind of injury with racquet sports because, for example, a squash ball fits nicely into the shape of the eye. It's very unusual in football. Are you surprised with the speed of his recovery? I'm delighted with the progress he has made. ere MOMO: EYE INJURY LEFT ME TERRIFIED Paul Eaton 21 March 2006 Momo Sissoko today spoke of the 'lonely hours' he spent lying on his bed at home wondering if he'd ever play football again. The Liverpool midfielder returned to training last week after making an amazing recovery from the severe eye injury he picked up during the Reds' Champions League clash against Benfica last month. There were fears Sissoko would never see again out of the right eye so badly damaged by Beto's boot in Lisbon's Stadium of Light ? so to see him back in training at Melwood with his team-mates has come as a massive relief to everyone connected with Liverpool FC. The Mali midfielder admits the last few weeks have represented the worst period of his life as he had to contend with thoughts that a career which was promising so much could be over at the age of just 21. "It was an awful time," he told Liverpoolfc.tv in an exclusive interview at Melwood. "There were lots of lonely hours at home when I was very worried and very scared about what was going to happen. It was such a bad injury. "I don't mind admitting I cried a lot. I thought 'this can't be happening to me'. It didn't seem possible that I could be in this situation. I just had to lie there and rest and hope that my vision would get better. It was only a couple of weeks but it felt much, much longer." The initial prognosis wasn't good. After being transported to a top Lisbon hospital to be examined, a Portuguese specialist then informed the media that Sissoko only had a 20 per cent chance of seeing out of his right eye again. Understandably, that prediction caused a lot of worry and heartache as newspapers and websites all over the world ran sensationalist stories that the Liverpool midfielder's career was potentially over. Sissoko knew what was being said and written, but he wasn't prepared to give up a fight he had only just started. "I wasn't happy when the Portuguese doctor told me that because all I want to do is play football," he added. "He said that football was finished for me. I didn't like that. I didn't believe that. We went to see other specialists and thankfully things have got a lot better. "I knew I had a big problem and I knew what people were saying, but I tried my best to stay positive and to be as calm as possible. I had a lot of support from a lot of people and they helped me a tremendous amount. "When we came home from Portugal I was told to rest completely. I couldn't do anything, not even watch the television. It was very boring but I had no choice. I knew I had to follow the advice to give myself the best possible chance of recovery. My family, my girlfriend, my manager, the players and even the president of my country were speaking to me and wishing me well. "I want to say a special thank you to all the Liverpool supporters who wrote to me and who left messages wishing me well. It meant a lot to know I had so many people caring about me. "Rafael Benitez stayed in touch while I was at home and he always tried to give me confidence that I would make a recovery and come back into the team. "The good thing is my vision did get better every day. That's what gave me the confidence that everything was going to be okay. After one week my vision was a bit better and it has just gone on from there. It was comforting to know I was getting better. If I was just lying there day after day and still wasn't able to see anything then it would have been bad and I would have been very scared again. "Three weeks ago I had zero vision in my right eye, now it's about eighty per cent so that is a quick recovery. It's hard to say if it'll ever be perfect. There's a chance it might but also a chance it might not. Only time will tell. The big thing for me is I can play football again. That's all I want to do." Sissoko, who will wear a protective eye shield for the rest of the season similar to the device worn by Tottenham's Edgar Davids, is now keen to put this episode of his life behind him and concentrate on picking up where he left off before injury struck. "The problem came at a bad time for me because I felt I was playingwell and contributing to the team. I'm training with my team-mates again and last week I started playing football again. It's great to be back out there with them. I missed it so much. "Physically I feel very good but it's down to the manager now when he feels I'm ready to play again. The derby this weekend may be a bit early, but I'd love to return in time for that match. "What has happened has happened but that part of my life is closed now. I've had a bad experience but everything is okay and I just want to look to the future." and ere
