Berkeley_Eagle
Current Status: 24/7 Manly Fan
THE football career of Will Chambers remains uncertain, but the Melbourne centre knows being ruled out indefinitely with a rare blood clotting disorder is the best case scenario for rash-like symptoms that could have been fatal or diagnosed as leukaemia.
Chambers was yesterday released from Epworth Hospital in Melbourne after a torturous 48 hours where a simple bruise-like rash on his arms and legs turned out to be ITP (Idiopathic Thrombocytopenia), a disorder which has proved to be fatal.
The 24-year-old first noticed the spots on the flight back from Auckland last Sunday, reported them to the club doctor at recovery the next morning and by Monday evening was in hospital undergoing life-saving platelet treatment.
Had Chambers not had the issue treated immediately a simple shaving cut would have bled uncontrollably due to his dangerously low platelet count and more seriously, internal injuries sustained playing football could have been fatal.
"He was walking around on Monday night when I saw him in emergency and he said 'this is bizarre, I feel fantastic but I've got all these drips on my arms and I feel great'," Storm football manager Frank Ponissi said.
"Had he not been administered to hospital and cut himself shaving, knocked his leg, or even worse gone to training on Tuesday afternoon and copped a whack with his blood count at such a low level, it would have been tragic."
While doctors were initially confident he was suffering from ITP, Chambers had to endure a painful bone marrow test and the dreaded uncertainty on Tuesday to prove the diagnosis and rule out leukaemia.
"He had to undergo some bone marrow tests for potentially worse issues and thankfully the bone marrow results cleared him of anything serious and confirmed he did in fact have ITP," Ponissi said.
"It is probably the best result of what it could have been."
His mother made the day-long journey from Gove in the Northern Territory to Melbourne on Tuesday to be by her son's side for his recovery, but doctors have no idea on a potential NRL return date.
Most cases of ITP in adults are classified as persistent, lasting at least six months, or chronic which last up to one year.
Chambers has already shown rapid improvement in his blood count, rising from a four to 50 while in hospital. But he must get back to the normal level of 150-200 and remain there without medication before he can resume training or contemplate a comeback.
Storm officials are now on a worldwide search to find an athlete who has overcome ITP to learn more about the long journey ahead for Chambers.
Chambers was yesterday released from Epworth Hospital in Melbourne after a torturous 48 hours where a simple bruise-like rash on his arms and legs turned out to be ITP (Idiopathic Thrombocytopenia), a disorder which has proved to be fatal.
The 24-year-old first noticed the spots on the flight back from Auckland last Sunday, reported them to the club doctor at recovery the next morning and by Monday evening was in hospital undergoing life-saving platelet treatment.
Had Chambers not had the issue treated immediately a simple shaving cut would have bled uncontrollably due to his dangerously low platelet count and more seriously, internal injuries sustained playing football could have been fatal.
"He was walking around on Monday night when I saw him in emergency and he said 'this is bizarre, I feel fantastic but I've got all these drips on my arms and I feel great'," Storm football manager Frank Ponissi said.
"Had he not been administered to hospital and cut himself shaving, knocked his leg, or even worse gone to training on Tuesday afternoon and copped a whack with his blood count at such a low level, it would have been tragic."
While doctors were initially confident he was suffering from ITP, Chambers had to endure a painful bone marrow test and the dreaded uncertainty on Tuesday to prove the diagnosis and rule out leukaemia.
"He had to undergo some bone marrow tests for potentially worse issues and thankfully the bone marrow results cleared him of anything serious and confirmed he did in fact have ITP," Ponissi said.
"It is probably the best result of what it could have been."
His mother made the day-long journey from Gove in the Northern Territory to Melbourne on Tuesday to be by her son's side for his recovery, but doctors have no idea on a potential NRL return date.
Most cases of ITP in adults are classified as persistent, lasting at least six months, or chronic which last up to one year.
Chambers has already shown rapid improvement in his blood count, rising from a four to 50 while in hospital. But he must get back to the normal level of 150-200 and remain there without medication before he can resume training or contemplate a comeback.
Storm officials are now on a worldwide search to find an athlete who has overcome ITP to learn more about the long journey ahead for Chambers.
