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- Jun 29, 2003
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Paul Robinson glad to be back as Blackburn's No1 after brush with death
Source: Guardian
Blood clot after routine disc surgery put more than the former Tottenham and England goalkeeper's career on the line
Paul Robinson is sporting an impressive shiner from Blackburn Rovers' victory over Blackpool. His pride in a blackened, swollen, eye socket is unmistakable, although he takes greater satisfaction from being in a position to receive the blow from the visiting defender Gary MacKenzie. A recent brush with mortality explains the sense of perspective.
The former England goalkeeper came close to losing his life 10 months ago owing to a blood clot on the lung. On Saturday he will make his seventh appearance in 14 months for Rovers when they take their Championship play-off pursuit to Middlesbrough. It may be a departure from the Premier League, Champions League and World Cup experiences that have shaped Robinson's career with Blackburn, Tottenham and Leeds but he is savouring every moment after a traumatic ordeal.
"I've just come off the training ground covered in mud and Dickson [Etuhu] said to me: 'You're loving this aren't you?' I am, I definitely am. I'm enjoying playing because I don't worry about anything anymore. I'm not worried about what fans say to me, I'm not worried about what the papers say, I'm not worried if I have a good or a bad game and I'm not worried before a game about what might happen. I'm just enjoying being out there again and playing football. I'm enjoying it more than ever."
Robinson is making up for lost time having been unable to play a competitive game in 2013. Not that a jeopardised career was his biggest concern. The Rovers keeper underwent what he thought was a routine back operation early last year to solve a long-standing sciatica problem. "A disc was touching the nerves in my back so they took half the disc out," he says. "I was going to be out for eight to 10 weeks maximum but five days later I developed complications."
In serious chest pain and coughing up blood, the 34-year-old went to accident and emergency. "I was sent home after a couple of hours. They thought it was just from where the tubes had been put down my throat during the operation. But that night I took a turn for the worse. It was like I had somebody stood on my chest and I was regurgitating a lot of blood. The next day, I was in lot of pain.
"Our lads were away at Cardiff so I thought I'd best phone the doc again [the Rovers club doctor Duncan Robertson]. He had diagnosed it over the phone from the start. He sent me to the first hospital with a text two or three pages long describing what he thought the diagnosis was and getting them to check for that. After I was sent home, the next day he sent me to LGI [Leeds General Infirmary] because it was Easter Monday. He spoke to a couple of his doctors and made sure there was a radiographer on because I think they were all off and I'd have had to wait until the next day for a scan, which in hindsight could have been dangerous. It could have been a fatal situation."
Robinson was informed he could have died only after injections had succeeded in thinning the clot, although his problems did not end there. "I was lucky the clot stopped where it did. Mine stopped at the bottom half of my lung. They think it came from my legs, or hip somewhere, and travelled up. At the top of your lungs there is a wider entrance and a narrower entrance at the bottom. Mine had gone through the wider entrance. I asked the doctors what would have happened had it stopped in the bottom entrance. They said you'd have just gone … [Robinson slaps the table in front of him].
"Mine had stopped halfway down and the bottom of the lung infarcted [when the lung tissue dies from inadequate blood supply]. After that it was a case of how much of my lung would I get back and would it return to normal? I've been lucky that it has completely reformed and regained life and, touch wood, I've got two normal working lungs. Whatever normal is, I am back to it."
It has been a long, arduous process. When he was supposed to be recovering from back surgery in bed Robinson revisited hospital for 10 consecutive days to receive warfarin injections into his stomach.
"There was a three to four hour wait in casualty when I went to Leeds the second time. I couldn't walk that far because I'd lost the bottom half of my lung and with the operation I was a bit of a pathetic mess to be honest. I said to them: 'I'm not being funny but please can I lie down? I've had a back operation.'"
The goalkeeper had undergone a six-month course of warfarin and had both a lung and back in repair when he returned to training last autumn. "In my mind I thought I'd catch up quickly," Robinson says, "but in truth I was miles away." Yet at no point, insists the former England No1, did he fear the end of his career.
"I never, ever thought I wouldn't play again. As soon as I knew I was going to be all right, after the first week or so, I was thinking about when I could come back. It's something I've done all my life and I don't want to stop.
"Maybe if I was 37 or 38 I'd have thought that somebody is trying to tell me something here, that it's enough, but I want to play for as long as I can do myself justice. I don't want to become a burden to anybody. As long as I can still play at this level I'll play for as long as I can.
"I've got this year and next year left on my contract and I love it here. Next year will be my seventh year at the club and if there is an extension after that I don't think I'd have any hesitation in looking at it."
He made his comeback in the FA Cup third round tie against Manchester City and Gary Bowyer's team, immersed in a relegation fight this time last year, are five points outside the play-off zone as stability makes a welcome return to Ewood Park.
"It was unbelievable to get back out there and the reception I got was fantastic, not just from our fans but from the City fans as well," Robinson says. "It's been the same with players we've played against in the last few weeks, they've been shaking my hand and saying it's good to see me back. It's been really nice, quite humbling to be honest." The occasional black eye aside.
Source: Guardian
Blood clot after routine disc surgery put more than the former Tottenham and England goalkeeper's career on the line
Paul Robinson is sporting an impressive shiner from Blackburn Rovers' victory over Blackpool. His pride in a blackened, swollen, eye socket is unmistakable, although he takes greater satisfaction from being in a position to receive the blow from the visiting defender Gary MacKenzie. A recent brush with mortality explains the sense of perspective.
The former England goalkeeper came close to losing his life 10 months ago owing to a blood clot on the lung. On Saturday he will make his seventh appearance in 14 months for Rovers when they take their Championship play-off pursuit to Middlesbrough. It may be a departure from the Premier League, Champions League and World Cup experiences that have shaped Robinson's career with Blackburn, Tottenham and Leeds but he is savouring every moment after a traumatic ordeal.
"I've just come off the training ground covered in mud and Dickson [Etuhu] said to me: 'You're loving this aren't you?' I am, I definitely am. I'm enjoying playing because I don't worry about anything anymore. I'm not worried about what fans say to me, I'm not worried about what the papers say, I'm not worried if I have a good or a bad game and I'm not worried before a game about what might happen. I'm just enjoying being out there again and playing football. I'm enjoying it more than ever."
Robinson is making up for lost time having been unable to play a competitive game in 2013. Not that a jeopardised career was his biggest concern. The Rovers keeper underwent what he thought was a routine back operation early last year to solve a long-standing sciatica problem. "A disc was touching the nerves in my back so they took half the disc out," he says. "I was going to be out for eight to 10 weeks maximum but five days later I developed complications."
In serious chest pain and coughing up blood, the 34-year-old went to accident and emergency. "I was sent home after a couple of hours. They thought it was just from where the tubes had been put down my throat during the operation. But that night I took a turn for the worse. It was like I had somebody stood on my chest and I was regurgitating a lot of blood. The next day, I was in lot of pain.
"Our lads were away at Cardiff so I thought I'd best phone the doc again [the Rovers club doctor Duncan Robertson]. He had diagnosed it over the phone from the start. He sent me to the first hospital with a text two or three pages long describing what he thought the diagnosis was and getting them to check for that. After I was sent home, the next day he sent me to LGI [Leeds General Infirmary] because it was Easter Monday. He spoke to a couple of his doctors and made sure there was a radiographer on because I think they were all off and I'd have had to wait until the next day for a scan, which in hindsight could have been dangerous. It could have been a fatal situation."
Robinson was informed he could have died only after injections had succeeded in thinning the clot, although his problems did not end there. "I was lucky the clot stopped where it did. Mine stopped at the bottom half of my lung. They think it came from my legs, or hip somewhere, and travelled up. At the top of your lungs there is a wider entrance and a narrower entrance at the bottom. Mine had gone through the wider entrance. I asked the doctors what would have happened had it stopped in the bottom entrance. They said you'd have just gone … [Robinson slaps the table in front of him].
"Mine had stopped halfway down and the bottom of the lung infarcted [when the lung tissue dies from inadequate blood supply]. After that it was a case of how much of my lung would I get back and would it return to normal? I've been lucky that it has completely reformed and regained life and, touch wood, I've got two normal working lungs. Whatever normal is, I am back to it."
It has been a long, arduous process. When he was supposed to be recovering from back surgery in bed Robinson revisited hospital for 10 consecutive days to receive warfarin injections into his stomach.
"There was a three to four hour wait in casualty when I went to Leeds the second time. I couldn't walk that far because I'd lost the bottom half of my lung and with the operation I was a bit of a pathetic mess to be honest. I said to them: 'I'm not being funny but please can I lie down? I've had a back operation.'"
The goalkeeper had undergone a six-month course of warfarin and had both a lung and back in repair when he returned to training last autumn. "In my mind I thought I'd catch up quickly," Robinson says, "but in truth I was miles away." Yet at no point, insists the former England No1, did he fear the end of his career.
"I never, ever thought I wouldn't play again. As soon as I knew I was going to be all right, after the first week or so, I was thinking about when I could come back. It's something I've done all my life and I don't want to stop.
"Maybe if I was 37 or 38 I'd have thought that somebody is trying to tell me something here, that it's enough, but I want to play for as long as I can do myself justice. I don't want to become a burden to anybody. As long as I can still play at this level I'll play for as long as I can.
"I've got this year and next year left on my contract and I love it here. Next year will be my seventh year at the club and if there is an extension after that I don't think I'd have any hesitation in looking at it."
He made his comeback in the FA Cup third round tie against Manchester City and Gary Bowyer's team, immersed in a relegation fight this time last year, are five points outside the play-off zone as stability makes a welcome return to Ewood Park.
"It was unbelievable to get back out there and the reception I got was fantastic, not just from our fans but from the City fans as well," Robinson says. "It's been the same with players we've played against in the last few weeks, they've been shaking my hand and saying it's good to see me back. It's been really nice, quite humbling to be honest." The occasional black eye aside.
