28 April 2020

Bristol Bears' Hurrell on the effects of 'probable stroke' which forced him to retire

Bristol Bears centre Will Hurrell has said the ‘probable stroke’ he suffered in a Premiership match in January has forced him to retire.

Hurrell is known for his dedication in tackles and putting his body on the line for his team and he took a ‘nasty knock’ to the head in a game against Leicester Tigers after one such tackle.

"I've always taken a more direct approach. Unfortunately, I've tried to nail a 120kg second row and it's backfired a little bit, but that's the way I play.

"Straight after the game, I started throwing up. My speech completely went. I couldn't speak. I'd passed out, fainted a couple of times and I got rushed to A&E.

"With this injury, the likelihood of it happening again is obviously very high because of the way I play, so that's left me with only one decision really. The specialist pretty much said if I play again and get another knock, I'm going to end up in a wheelchair," he told the BBC.

Ever since, the 30 year-old has suffered with anxiety and panic attacks.

"I started having panic attacks after the hit at the start of January. Now as a result of this brain knock, it sort of messes up the way your brain works and from that I was getting anxiety.

"I had to stay with my parents for a month. I couldn't really be on my own. I was having anxiety, headaches, vision issues, speech issues, and my memory has been atrocious.

“All those others have cleared up a little bit and it's just the memory issue, but I'm just working as hard as I can to get back to where I was before.”

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