Things are going in the right direction for Etiënne Vaessen. The RKC goalkeeper lost consciousness four weeks ago during the football match against Ajax after a hard collision with Ajax player Brian Brobbey. He was in serious condition and lay motionless on the field. The goalkeeper’s airway was blocked. He was resuscitated and then rushed to a hospital.
“Considering the circumstances, Etiënne is now doing reasonably well,” RKC director Frank van Mosselveld said on ESPN on Saturday evening. “I saw him again last week on the training field. Under the guidance of the physiotherapists, so very carefully. This is an injury where you have to wait and see from day to day what increasing the intensity will do to you.” The goalkeeper still suffers from headaches ‘off and on’.
“Etienne would have wanted to be under the bar this evening.”
“It is clear that such a collision has considerable consequences,” Van Mosselveld emphasized after RKC’s lost competition match against Sparta. “But again, if I compare it with how Etiënne was two weeks ago, this is enormous progress.”
However, according to the director, this does not mean that Vaessen can automatically continue this line. “We hope so, of course, but we have to take it day by day. But if you speak to him, Etiënne would have wanted to be under the bar this evening.”
“Of course I’m not a doctor, but it looks positive.”
Vaessen seems to be getting back to his old self again. “Yes, as it looks now,” said the RKC director. “I’m of course not a doctor, but it looks positive. Look, with an ankle sprain you know how long you need for your recovery period. This is a different type of injury. Some suffer from this for longer, others recover faster. . But of course we hope for the latter.”
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