24-year-old Lars Nabbe from Sambeek was welcomed on the football field on Sunday to loud applause. Things came to a head last year when he suffered a cardiac arrest during the first home game of the season. The former youth player of VVV-Venlo was in a coma for forty hours, but more than seven months later he was able to play again for fifteen minutes during the last home game of the season. “A beautiful moment,” he says.
It was a big shock for his teammates, supporters, family, friends and Lars himself when he collapsed on the football field on September 21 last year. Lars was in a coma for forty hours. His leaking heart valve was repaired at the Radboud University Medical Center in Nijmegen and he received an ICD, an internal defibrillator.
In recent months he has been working hard on his recovery. “Shortly after it happened, I thought I would never be able to play football again. But when they said in the hospital that I could quickly get back to my old self, that gave me hope,” says Lars.
Through a cardiologist at the Amsterdam UMC, he follows a months-long rehabilitation program at the Papendal top sports training center. “My muscles suffered a lot due to the long time in the hospital. But my heart and muscles feel a lot better now, the ICD gives me a lot more confidence.”
Lars has been training with his football team in Sambeek for a month now. “That was a bit crazy at first, but after a few times it feels normal again,” he laughs. He thought Sunday’s match was a bit more exciting. “It went wrong last year at the first home game of the season when there were many supporters. Now it was the last home game of the season and there were many people again.”
“Family was happy when the final whistle sounded.”
That interest created a nice moment. “I went onto the field to loud applause and I have reached another milestone in my recovery,” he beams. It was also an exciting moment for his family and friends. “Just as it was a barrier for me to play football again, it was a barrier for them to come and watch again. Then the old images resurface a bit.”
According to Lars, they were happy when the final whistle sounded. “Because they actually didn’t like it,” he says. “But they are also very happy for me,” he laughs.
Persistent as he is, Lars is already working towards the next milestone in his recovery: playing an entire match. That won’t work this season. But in the summer he has time to build up further towards the new season: “Then I hope to be a long way there again.”
