Therapy, exams and at least a month away: the future of Javier Altamirano after the seconds of terror he suffered in Argentina

The students of La Plata and Boca Juniors closed the Sunday day of the first category of Argentine football. Present on the field was Javier Altamirano, the Chilean midfielder who, little by little, is gaining recognition for the team led by the historic Juan Sebastián Verón.

The looks on his good play made everyone pay attention to him. For this reason, it is not strange that it is a recurring call in the latest salary sheets of La Roja. Eduardo Berizzo made his debut against Cuba and, in the following days, Ricardo Gareca awaited him in Europe for the friendlies against Albania and France, respectively.

But his name is today marked by what could have been a tragedy. While the 27th minute of the match valid for the Argentina Tournament was being played, the match was abruptly interrupted. The footballer trained in Huachipato collapsed on the Stadium One playing field a situation that generated an emotion in which no one remained indifferent.

Crying, despair and many people on the ground marked the seconds following the collapse. The same club paramedics, in an image reminiscent of what happened to the Dane Christian Eriksen when he fainted during the European Cup, covered him so that the fans and the broadcast could not capture this difficult time.

Help did not take long to arrive. Two of his teammates quickly approached to help him, after seeing him with a lost face and twisted hands, a sign that something serious was happening to the Chilean. In fact, even Pincharrata’s coach, Eduardo Domínguez, ran to assist him and be by his side. .

In a few seconds, everything was already chaos. As the club’s medical team rushed to his aid, several players began holding their heads in a gesture of desperation. The cry of Enzo Pérez, emblem of Marcelo Gallardo’s River and who today plays for Estudiantes, was moving. Others reacted quickly and called for the ambulance to come and help them. In these moments of uncertainty, the Estudiantes coach went to call the attention of the driver of the emergency vehicle so that he could arrive as quickly as possible to the place where his player was. His transfer was immediate, without any form of detention, to a hospital located less than 100 meters from the stadium.

Given what happened, the decision of the match’s central referee, Fernando Echenique, to suspend the match found no detractors. In fact, Boca Juniors striker Edinson Cavani addressed the judges, while José Sosa of Estudiantes did the same. There, the Uruguayan asked him: “Is the little one okay?” », to which the Argentinian replied that he was waiting for more information. In the middle of this dialogue, the referee announced the decision: “First the kid”, decreeing the suspension of the duel which Cavani and Sosa sealed with a hug. .

A few minutes later, some calm returned after the stadium loudspeakers announced that “Altamirano meets the medical guard, already aware », news which provoked spontaneous applause from the public.

During the last hours, the footballer underwent various examinations. He admitted that he did not remember anything about the episode that would mark his career. He is accompanied by his pregnant wife. He does not have any type of telephone contact, as this was prohibited as part of the intensive treatment he was undergoing.

Altamirano has already undergone a series of examinations in recent hours: electroencephalogram, complete laboratory and spent the night under observation. It cannot be ruled out that he could be transferred to another hospital with more complex equipment.

For the moment, peace reigns in those closest to him. The tests he underwent did not reveal any abnormalities requiring immediate intervention. From La Roja, through Dr. Roberto Yáñez, I also followed it.

After the Chilean was received in a treatment center, the club released a first report on what happened. “Player Javier Altamirano suffered a convulsive episode. He is hospitalized under observation and to finish his studies. A CT scan was performed, which showed no obvious pathological images. It’s stable “, they reported through the club’s networks.

In turn, Hugo Montenegro, Pincha’s doctor, explained during the night that “he is fine, it was determined that he was having a seizure. Entrance to the sanatorium, They have done all the studies that are done at the beginning. A laboratory test was done, a CT scan, which turned out to be good and eliminated the tumors for example. He now remains under observation, in therapy. Tomorrow morning the studies will be done, they must be completed and thus determined what was the cause. “.

“At first we can only determine whether it was a crisis or not. Then with the studies that are done, how we see it, how the observation occurs in the laboratory. The important thing is that he came out of the convulsive episode, the first studies were done, which showed good news, the tomographic image is normal “, complete.

During the development of the Euro Cup which was played in 2021, a situation was experienced which was revived with the fall of Altamirano. During the duel between Denmark and Finland, footballer Christian Eriksen fainted after going to compete for a ball. “It’s different, there was no heart problem here,” they say from the driving circle.

Paramedics had to enter the playing field to treat him while he was unconscious, then perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation. . Meanwhile, the players created a human wall so that fans in the stadium, as well as the official channel, would not show what was happening to the pilot.

After 15 minutes, Eriksen was taken off the field on a stretcher, conscious and with an oxygen mask, to a medical center.

After almost seven months of recovery, the midfielder has spoken about his experience as he prepares to return to football with Brentford.

“I disappeared from this world for five minutes, until my heartbeat returned.” the flyer began in an interview. “It’s a strange, out-of-this-world experience, because it happened and I was where I was, but seeing where I am now is very strange.”

Eriksen also recalled the situation in detail. “I remember everything except those five minutes, the throw-in, the ball that hit me in the knee and I don’t know what happened next. Then I woke up with people around me and I felt pressure in my chest, I was trying to catch my breath . “I had no idea what happened at the time, and then I thought, ‘Did something happen to my legs, did I break my back? ‘”, did he declare.

“Can I lift my leg?” I did all these little things to see what would happen. Then in the ambulance I heard someone say “how long have you been unconscious” and someone said “five minutes”. It was the first time I heard that I was gone “, he added.