The EVZ striker could have been paralyzed: such was the neck shock for O’Neill

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Shocking moment in the closing stages of the match between Bern and Zug on December 9: A collision took place between defender Marco Maurer and Brian O’Neill in front of the SCB goal. The EVZ player collides with the opponent in a bent position. He then independently leaves the ice towards the locker room.

Nine weeks later, the American striker has come to terms with the accident so that he can talk about it for the first time. And he remembers it well: “Immediately after the collision I lost feeling in my hands for a few seconds and was worried about it. But it came back.” He got a bit of a headache in the locker room, lay down and then traveled back to Zug by team bus as usual.

In the days that followed he found it extremely difficult to sleep. “I woke up because of the severe pain.” He feels better during the day and O’Neill even attends the club’s Christmas party. He thinks he is just dealing with a muscle strain in his neck. Because the symptoms persist, he is undergoing further examination at the spine center of the Cantonal Hospital of Lucerne.

Then the shock diagnosis: an injury to the 6th and 7th cervical vertebrae, which required surgery. The intervertebral disc presses on the nerve canal, causing the almost unbearable pain. At first O’Neill is shocked: ‘I immediately thought of my wife. My biggest concern was that she should now be afraid of me.” Because O’Neill is aware that he has been lucky in adversity, “it could have been a lot worse.” If the impact had been more violent or from a different corner, he could have become paralyzed, team doctor Beat Schwegler told the “Luzerner Zeitung” in December.

The 35-year-old underwent successful surgery on December 21 and was able to go home to his family for Christmas. “We were all very relieved.” He is not allowed to lift or carry his son Declan (2) for a month; much depends on his Finnish wife Anniina (28), who likes to support her husband. Even today, a month and a half later, O’Neill has to be careful when playing with Declan. He is also not allowed on the ice yet, a fall would be too risky.

Can he play for the EVZ again this season? O’Neill clings to hope. But the chance is small. There is no exact timetable for a possible return, “because every person and every body deals with such an injury differently.” His fear that this game could be the last of his career has disappeared, and so far there have been no setbacks in daily therapy.

However, the fact that his contract with EVZ expires after this season does not make the question of the future any easier. O’Neill would like to stay in Zug, “but I understand Reto Kläy (the sports director, editor) that this decision is not urgent”, there are still too many question marks about the player, who was playing his best hockey just before. the accident .

Source : Blick