‘I’m just so happy to be alive’

THEY were seven short words which summed up the seven longest days in Shane Duffy’s young life: “I’m just so happy to be alive.”

The 18-year-old Irish player, who required life-saving surgery after rupturing a liver artery in a training game collision in Malahide last Friday, was discharged from the Mater Hospital yesterday in the company of his parents Brian and Siobhain.

Looking pale but standing tall and clearly in good spirits, Duffy spoke in public for the first time about his journey to hell and back, beginning by offering heartfelt thanks to all the FAI and hospital medical staff who, as he said matter of factly, “saved my life”.

The Derry native said that the events of last Friday were mostly “a blur” to him and that he only fully learned about the seriousness of his situation after he had successfully emerged from surgery.

“When I woke up with the operation done, my mum and dad told me that’d I nearly died. It was crazy. But everyone was top class and I can’t thank the FAI enough, especially (International Affairs Director) Pat Costello who looked after my parents. And (team doctor) Alan Byrne and (team surgeon) John O’Byrne, who were the first to get to me, and who realised how serious it was. Everyone has been so supportive, I can’t get over how much people have cared about me.”

Duffy said that in no way did he feel the other player involved in the accident — Irish Juniors goalkeeper Adrian Walsh — was culpable for what happened at Gannon Park.

“It happens in football, it’s not like he meant to do it, it’s just one of those things that happen,” said Duffy.

With the backing of his doctors, Shane is fully confident he will be able to resume his career in the autumn.

“Hopefully in four to five months I’ll be back playing. If I take it easy and don’t rush back. First, I’ll take a rest back at home for a while, then get away on holiday and head back to Everton in July to continue recovering.

“This time last week, it looked like I wouldn’t be here. I’m here now and I have to look at the bigger picture.”

Shane’s father Brian, who travelled from Derry to watch his son playing last week, couldn’t disguise his joy after what had been a parent’s worst nightmare.

“He’s absolutely in top form and I just can’t believe I have him standing here. This time last week I was just coming down to watch him and then, that weekend, I’ll never forget it as long as I live. To have him standing here now is unbelievable.

“At first, after the incident happened on the pitch, I just thought he was winded. Then when he was lying down I thought it might be a cracked rib. Shane has been in the same kind of tackle a thousand times and there’s never been another occurrence like this. Nine times out of 10 Shane would have been lifted off the pitch and examined. That would have been too late. Shane would have been dead. John O’Byrne and Alan Byrne had the sense to get him on the stretcher and get him down that road as fast as possible.

“And then we nearly lost him in the ambulance. When we got him here (to the Mater), the crash team were ready for us. We hadn’t him in the door and they were working on him. It was a complete unit, right down to Gerry McEntee doing the surgery. He’s a fantastic man. I thanked him yesterday and he turned around and said ‘I hadn’t got the hard bit to do, the hard bit was done by all those other guys before me who got him ready for me’.

“A humble man, he wouldn’t take any credit for it. But hopefully we’re friends for life.”

Brian admitted that, last Friday night, he was braced for the worst.

“100%. John O’Byrne told me that Shane could die during the operation. So I had another 35 or 40 minutes to live with that. Siobhain wasn’t here at the time. Was I going to tell her? Was I not going to tell her? Did I want her to land at the hospital and find Shane lying dead? Because that’s the way it was going.”

But, happily, the operation to stem massive blood loss and repair the hole in the hepatic artery was a success.

Said his father: “We went in to see him about 2.20am. His eyes were open and his hand was out. So he was on the road to recovery from the word go.”

Does Brian have any qualms about his lad’s determination to get back playing football? “I said to him during the week, ‘I don’t know how I’m going to watch you playing,’” he replied with a smile.

“But right now, hopefully we as a family will get the healing process ready, and then the Irish boys and Everton will get him back to fitness.

“But he’ll not play until he’s ready.”

Before taking his son home to Derry, Brian once again paid tribute to the FAI, who are awaiting the Court of Arbitration for Sport’s decision on Duffy’s eligibilty to play for the Republic. “Oh my God, what can we say about the FAI? Without them, four days ago we would have buried Shane. There’s no question about it. There was never a question but that Shane wanted to play for the Republic. This has just put the icing on the cake. So now it’s head down and get back to it and hopefully we’ll see him pulling on the jersey again.”