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August 29, 2006
Lonergan Goes Under The Knife For Second Time
Geelong defender Tom Lonergan remains in hospital in an induced coma as he recovers from kidney surgery after it was revealed on Monday he lost more than half the blood in his body.So serious was the injury sustained by Lonergan, when he bravely backed into a pack during Saturday's game against Geelong, that doctors were forced to remove one of his kidneys.
Lonergan remains in Geelong Hospital in a serious but stable condition but despite the extent of his injuries, the Cats are optimistic he will make a full recovery and will be able to continue his AFL career.
Geelong's club doctor Chris Bradshaw said the club's main concern was making sure the 22-year-old's condition progressed well in the next few days with Lonergan facing further surgery on Monday night to remove the surgery packs used during the initial operation on Sunday morning.
"After surgery today to take the packs out, after that he should be brought out of that induced coma," Bradshaw said.
Lonergan has been in an induced coma since complications arose early on Sunday morning after it was initially felt he would not need surgery.
"About 3am on Sunday morning his blood pressure was dropping and a quick decision was made to take him to theatre and it was found he had lost about three litres of blood,' Bradshaw said, adding the human body held around five litres of blood.
"So there was a fair bit of bleeding and it necessitated in taking out his kidney and that happened in about a six hour procedure on Sunday morning."
Bradshaw admitted that had the surgeons at Geelong hospital not acted so quickly, Lonergan's condition could have been much worse.
"He was being monitored carefully and the minute his blood pressure started dropping, they acted quickly."
"It could have got dire but it was under control the whole time."
Bradshaw said the human body could function with only one third of one kidney so Lonergan will be capable of resuming his career.
However at this stage the club is not even thinking about his immediate playing future.
"I think he has got a good chance of playing again but I am concerned about getting him through the next few days first and then we can work out his long-term outlook," Bradshaw said.
"He is in a serious but stable condition and we are fairly optimistic about his recovery but we are obviously very cautious at the same time."
While Bradshaw said such serious internal injuries were not common in the AFL, he said players had played with one kidney before.
"I am fairly optimistic about his playing future as long as he gets through the next few days okay."
Bradshaw said during his time as Richmond's club doctor one of the players was able to successfully play with one kidney after it was revealed the player in fact only had one kidney after he was sent for tests when blood was found in his urine.
Just two years ago ex-Collingwood player Bo Nixon played one game for Hawthorn after having lost a kidney through illness with Nixon wearing a guard to protect his remaining kidney.
And one of Geelong's greatest players and now Channel Nine television personality John "Sam" Newman lost part of his kidney at the age of 21 but went on to play for the Cats for another 13 seasons.
Bradshaw also revealed that Lonergan had suffered an earlier injury to the same kidney while playing junior football at 16, which contributed to the seriousness of his latest injury.
"Apparently the scar tissue from that injury made it a bit more dire when he got hit this time," he said.
"The bottom half of the kidney was severely lacerated and severely bruised and he also had an injury to the main vein that comes up to the heart and that is what caused the bleeding."
Geelongblog.com thoughts are with Tommy after this horrific injury and we wish him all the best in recovery.
Posted by Sammy D at August 29, 2006 01:23 PM