2023-09-17 02:35:33
Charlie Wyke
He survived two cardiac arrests, six heart surgeries and continues to kick
Charlie Wyke is currently playing successfully for Wigan Athletic in the English League One. That didn’t look like it for the 30-year-old recently.
Published17. September 2023, 04:35
Charlie Wyke is a striker for Wigan Athletic in the English League One, the third highest division.
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The 30-year-old can currently smile again as he was voted Player of the Month for August.
Sky Sports
The Englishman has had two cardiac arrests and six heart operations.
IMAGO/NurPhoto
His implanted defibrillator can be seen here.
Sky Sports
Charlie Wyke was named English League One Player of the Month for August.
Just a few months ago, the 30-year-old wanted to end his career.
Before that, he had already survived two cardiac arrests and six heart operations.
Professional footballer Charlie Wyke was lucky more than once. The 30-year-old Englishman suffered cardiac arrest twice during training in November 2021 and April 2022. He was quickly helped and the Wigan Athletic striker survived. He then had to undergo six heart operations. Now he has a defibrillator in his chest – similar to the one before him Dane Christian Eriksen had been issued. And then, just when Wyke thought he could finally kick normally again, there was the next setback.
“Last season I got to a point where I was no longer sure whether I wanted to play anymore,” he told the English tabloid newspaper “The Sun”. His coach at Wigan, Leam Richardson, with whom he had developed a close relationship, was sacked. It was Richardson who had immediately intervened in Wyke’s first cardiac arrest, started resuscitation and thus saved him. “And then there was the knee injury,” said Wyke.
He became overweight
According to the Englishman, he has lost his “mojo”, his life energy. He no longer wanted to play football. “I thought I would never come back.” His wife, family and agent also thought it was time to end his career. «What else is this? “You had a good career, why not stop now?” asked the agent.
Wyke’s body was also no longer able to cope, he became overweight, weighing up to 90 kilograms – at a height of 1.88 m. “I thought, I don’t want this anymore. “I felt so bad that I decided to go home to the northeast,” says Wyke.
Physio had something against it
When he did return from his knee injury, he was only substituted four times and so he told his teammates in the dressing room that he would end his career at the end of the season. But physiotherapist Jimmy Barrow had something against that. “He told me that I was taking my anger out on the wrong people, that I should focus on myself and get both my head and my body back on track.”
Barrow was proven right, Wyke tried one last time, came back six kilograms lighter and was voted League One Player of the Month in August. He had scored five goals in four games. But because his club was deducted eight points for not paying player salaries on time, Wigan is languishing at the bottom of the table. Actually a perfect starting point for Wyke to write another success story with his goals.
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