Diver’s courage reaps reward
The Derry midfielder spent two weeks lying face down in bed in a hotel room in Sydney last October after surgery to repair a detached retina.
The freak injury, similar to the one sustained by Tyrone star Brian McGuigan five years ago, has left him with poor vision in his left eye.
It threatened to end his inter-county career but he has battled back well and will line out in Saturday’s Ulster SFC opener against Donegal.
“It has been a difficult year for myself personally and you do appreciate playing more when you get a serious injury,” he said.
“It was very strange, I just woke up one morning and I couldn’t see out of my left eye. The doctors can’t say for definite what happened.
“They think it might be genetic or maybe too many slaps on the head over the years. It was rough for a while but we’re over the worst.”
Diver and his new bride were in Thailand when the injury occurred, but were flying to Australia that same day.
He spent two days in hospital in Sydney after surgery to repair the detached retina, but the recuperation process was just beginning.
“I had to stay in the hotel face-down in bed for about two weeks, all day and all night. It was rough going, and it was even worse for my wife.
“It was her honeymoon too. To come back from that has been tough, but it’s something I wanted to do.”
Diver has never contacted McGuigan over their shared pain, but is delighted the Ardboe man is contemplating coming out of retirement to resume his Tyrone career.
The Bellaghy star said: “I was delighted for Brian. It’s good to see someone who had the same thing coming back out again to play. It’s like any serious injury, you don’t want to dwell on it too much. I just wanted to get on with things and try lead a relatively normal life.’
Diver returned to training in January and played in the early rounds of the league but found it hard to adjust to having such poor vision in his left eye.
“At the very beginning it was very difficult. Now I’m getting used to it. Sometimes there’s co-ordination issues, and playing under floodlights is more difficult.
“I had a hamstring injury and then I fell out of favour and wasn’t picked for a few games so it’s been a frustrating year.”
