Gregory Mertens: Ex-Belgium U21 player dies after collapse

Gregory Mertens: Ex-Belgium U21 player dies after collapse

Belgian footballer Gregory Mertens has died of heart failure, three days after collapsing during a match.
The 24-year-old Lokeren defender was treated on the pitch during the first half of Monday's reserve-team game with Genk but did not recover after time in hospital on a life-support machine.
A club statement said: "The medical staff have done everything to save Gregory, but they finally had to acknowledge their impotence.
"Gregory passed away at around 16:30."
The former Belgium Under-21 international's condition had worsened since he was taken to hospital in Genk, with doctors giving him little chance of survival.
On Thursday his family agreed his life support should be switched off.
Lokeren say that the exact nature of Mertens's heart condition has yet to be established.
But he passed all pre-season health tests required by Europe's football governing body Uefa, and was judged to be one of the fittest players at his club.
He joined Lokeren in January 2014 from Cercle Brugge and played 15 league games this season, as well as featuring against Hull City in the Europa League in August.
The club statement continued: "Gregory was only one-and-a-half years at the club, but in that short time his quiet modesty made him an indispensable person.
"Now we will have to learn to live with the loss
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/32537425

 

good on you for posting.

a lot of this happening more and more.

It is me or is this stuff occuring to "the fittest" and its some form of viral thing or something where the body ends up eating its own heart muscle or something like that.

Its so scary to think you can be really really fit and just drop.

Need to be careful when sick and returning to games.

 

I have a friend who as a teenage was a top rated swimmer in his age group. He had to have some tests with a top doctor because they were concerned that his fitness regime was making his heart to strong for the body. He got the all clear but this shows that coaches need to be so careful when training young athletes. You can become to fit. Dangerously to fit.

This may not be the situation with this player though.

RIP Gregory. I hope this further pushes experts to find a way to prevent these incidents.

 

i think there is a blood test now?

some protein marker if you are bascially digesting your own body... this zero body fat malarchy leaves nothing for the body to fall back on when an inllness strikes
I think every cough cold or flu virus should equal very very careful treatment for top athletes now. Force feed the ****ers and blood tests

its really really scary to see kids and young lads dropping cos in my day i never heard of such a thing.

 

Terrible news,very sad

 

Doni our old keeper left because of heart trouble to.