Flinders Park footballer loses a kidney in an on-field collision
AN amateur footballer will never play again after a life-threatening on-field collision — his accident eerily close to the 10-year anniversary of the day a top AFL defender suffered a similar rare injury.
AMATEUR footballer Brad Fitzgerald will never play again after an on-field collision led to him losing a kidney.
Fitzgerald, 27, was lining up for Flinders Park in a division three qualifying final against Pembroke Old Scholars on August 20 when his kidney was shattered from an opponent’s incidental knee to his back in a marking contest.
Initially, Fitzgerald thought he may have broken his ribs but he soon felt ill and opted to head to The Queen Elizabeth Hospital.
Fitzgerald’s injury came a week before the 10-year anniversary of Geelong defender Tom Lonergan losing a kidney in an on-field collision against Melbourne.
Lonergan has gone on to notch 184 games and a flag but Fitzgerald, a two-time premiership player in local competitions, opted to pull the pin because “the pain is not something I’d ever want to experience again”.
“If it somehow happened again, you’d be on dialysis and just be stuffed,” he said.
The Flinders Park key-position player has learnt he could have died if an ambulance had transferred him to Royal Adelaide Hospital, as had been planned, amid 5L of internal bleeding.
After a three-hour emergency surgery to remove his kidney by cutting open his stomach, Fitzgerald realised his playing days were over because of the risk associated with losing his other kidney if he copped another whack.
“It was definitely the worst pain I’ve experienced on the football field and I’ve broken thumbs before and snapped an ankle,” Fitzgerald said.
“I could feel this warm sensation in my body and I couldn’t sit properly.
“A Pembroke player came in from the side ... and his knee got me from the back and basically pushed my kidney into the body and squashed it.
“When I got to hospital they were sticking painkillers into me ... and my kidney was the size of a Sherrin by the time they got to it.
“I was quite emotional when I woke up on Sunday because it was my last footy game and what I’d been through.”
Fitzgerald was discharged from hospital on Saturday and watched his Flinders Park teammates play in a losing semi-final that afternoon.
“I’d spent a week in hospital and it felt like hell so I felt it was a luxury to go out and watch and see the sun for the first time in a week.
“I thought it would have been good to be out there (playing).”
Recovery will be a slow process, though the pain is going away.
Fitzgerald has lost about 5kg and spends most days resting on a recliner in his lounge room.
He hopes to be able to stand up straight for the first time since the accident once he has staples removed from his chest on Monday.
Exercise is off the cards for another month and he will not be able to work as a subcontractor for a wireless internet company for at least two months.
But he does not intend to be lost to football and has already put his hand up to be Flinders Park’s runner next season and may even join in the club’s pre-season running program.
“(Not playing again) has hit me because I get quite upset when I think about footy.
“But I’d be more devo if this happened to me when I was 21.”