The Story of Appie
At only 20 years of age Abdelhak “Appie” Nouri was put into an induced coma. Appie was a soccer “wonderkid.” Nouri rose up from the AFC Ajax youth squad eventually making it to the first team because he added his own unique touch to soccer, making him one of the best young soccer players in the past years. He debuted in over 15 games for Ajax’s first team both in the nations cup and the league. Upon returning to training after the summer of 2017, Nouri was in line to part-take in the preseason friendly against Werder Bremen, a German team. He went in the first minute of the second half of the match. It was a noticeably boring match until the thirty second minute. It was visible that Appie was not feeling well. He started slowly going down to the ground, until he eventually was lying down flat and not moving. Paramedics rushed to the scene and they were quite confused about the situation until they eventually came to the conclusion that he was having a heart attack. Appie was rapidly transferred via air lift to the nearest hospital in Austria, where they were playing and received vital treatment. Moments later, Nouri was induced in a coma. A coma is not equal to brain death, but it is where no stimuli can prompt the brain to become awake. Doctors and faculty at the hospital, said that there was nothing they could do except keep him on a ventilator, and that there was no reassurance that we would wake up. The parents persisted that he would. As Dr. Vukov mentioned, most of the family members are usually in denial about letting go of a loved one even though it is most probable they would not wake up. “Families who lose a loved one to brain death are blindsided, and find themselves facing someone who does not look dead.” Appie Nouri was not brain dead, however, doctors came to the diagnosis that his brain stem still showed vital signs. Because the definition of brain death is the cessation of brain functions including the brain stem and no spontaneous respiration, it could be conlcuded that he was only in a coma. For the family it was hard to hear that their elder son was never going to play soccer anymore. Especially after the fact that Nouri was in perfect health before the heart attack happened. He possessed no chronic disease prior to the event and in the article Brain Death: What health professionals should know, it is said that “patients with brain death are typically younger than other patients at demise… free of chronic disease.” Appie was both. It was never explained how he suddenly collapsed onto the ground or what was the cause of the heart attack. The club manager issued a statement saying that the “treatment of the player was not adequate… it took so long until it was cleared what happened.” It had been just a couple of delayed seconds where if he had not been treated for airway first he would have “come out better” as explained by Edwin Van Der Sar, the clubs manager. The time that Nouri was without oxygen contributed to his permanent brain damage. The family acknowledged that the doctors missed the important signals, and the club manager agreed on what they concluded that happened. However, if the defibrillator would have not been deployed at all, Nouri would have been brain dead. In August of 2018, Nouri woke up. He will have permanent brain damage for the rest of his life, but he has become more and more aware as time passes and can communicate through hand gestures. The time the family passes with him make him stronger and healthier. An induced coma for Appie was the best the physicians could do. Coma can be similar to that of brain death in which no stimuli cam prompt the brain to wake up, even though brain death is no neural activity. The family persisted on keeping Appie on life support and that eventually paid off, because he is now alive and gaining consciousness and awareness a step at a time. It was also respectful of the hospital staff to respect the parents’ wishes on keeping him on life support during this period of time.
Works Cited:
James, Stuart. “Abdelhak 'Appie' Nouri: 'We Are with Him 24/7, Talking to Him, Praying for
Him'.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 15 Dec. 2017, www.theguardian.com/football/2017/dec/15/abdelhak-appie-nouri-ajax.
Jones, Joshua. “Ajax Starlet Abdelhak Nouri Wakes from Coma and Can 'Communicate through
Gestures' after Suffering Brain Damage Following Pitch Collapse.” The Sun, The Sun, 21 Aug. 2018, www.thesun.co.uk/sport/7063756/abdelhak-nouri-wake-coma-communicate/.
Powell, Tia. “Brain Death: What Health Professionals Should Know” American Journal of
Critical Care, 7 April 2018,
“'There Is Communication,' Says Brother of Brain-Damaged Ajax Star.” CNN, Cable News
Network, 21 Aug. 2018,
No comments:
Post a Comment