The Daily Observer London Desk: Reporter- Judith Benjamin
Collingwood gun Jeremy Howe has likened the trauma from his brutal arm injury to that of a car accident after he made his return to training following four surgeries in the space of 11 days.
Howe suffered three breaks in his arm after he landed awkwardly during the Pies’ Round 1 clash with Geelong last month, with his concerned teammates rallying around their vice captain as he left the pitch.
Surgery on the injury did not go according to plan and he had to return to hospital to treat an infection in the same arm, and Howe says the ordeal has been ‘really challenging.’
‘I had the original surgery and it all went really well … but given there was a compound fracture, there’s always a chance of an infection,’ Howe told AFL360.
‘I checked out three days post (surgery), and probably by that Thursday, I really started working out I probably wasn’t right.
Collingwood star Jeremy Howe has opened up on the ordeal of his brutal arm injury
The Magpies’ vice captain required four surgeries in 11 days after his injury in Round 1
‘(I was) sweating a lot and was severely dehydrated and started losing my mind a little bit at home. The call was to go back in (to get it reevaluated), and sure enough, I had an infection from the ground where the bone had gone through.
‘Thankfully we got it in time and they worked extremely hard. Four surgeries later I’m back to feeling like I’m normal.’
Although he is back running at training, Howe remains sidelined indefinitely and said the back side of his arm was opened for nearly the duration of the time he spent back in hospital.
‘They kept covering it every day and every third day I was in there I was going back in for another procedure to wash it out and to make sure I got the all clear with the expectation I wouldn’t have to go back in and experience another infection,’ he said.
‘Thankfully they did an amazing job and I’m back to running, which is really pleasing.
‘I’ve broken bones before where you assume it’s a pretty standard procedure if you do have surgery. But what comes with an infection is something I haven’t been exposed to.
‘The medication you get put on, the IV drips you’re constantly on, you’re bloods getting taken every single day — you’re under constant observation given what you’ve been through.
‘The nurses and doctors did a tremendous job. They certainly should take a lot of positives out of the way they treated me, that got me through it for sure.’
He admitted that his ordeal was mentally challenging and likened it to a car accident
He said the injury was like a ‘car accident’ and that he struggled mentally with overcoming the setback.
‘We’re in the entertainment business and the two and a half hours on field is what we really enjoy. When things like this happen, that’s probably the dark side of the sport as well,’ Howe said.
‘I found the isolation part in hospital really challenging. The club was great, I had people come in — ‘Fly’ (Craig McRae) was huge, ‘Wrighty’ (Graham Wright) was in and players came in and saw me.
‘But the inability to do what you normally do — you can’t pick the kids and stuff up — you can’t really do much. You’re on your back for 23 hours a day, but we got through and the support has been amazing — not only from the footy community, (but also from) friends and family, it’s been through the roof.
‘I’m extremely grateful for those people because I’m in a good place now.’
