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Tindall says he's lucky to be alive

Mike Tindall
By Cherry Picker February 11 2008
Glaws centre Mike Tindall says that he was within minutes of dying from the injury he received while playing for England in the Six Nations opener against Wales. The freak injury came when he landed on the boot of tackler Mark Jones and a damaged rib tore a hole in his liver, just months after his recopvery from a broken leg that prevented him from playing in the World Cup.
He was rushed to hospital from Twickenham and a team of doctors and nurses battled to save him in intensive care.
Mike TindallTindall (right) has told the Mail on Sunday: "At the time I didn't gauge how serious a condition I was in. I did notice, however, that at times there were a dozen doctors and nurses all standing by my bed talking, then turning round and looking at me. I also noted that things couldn't be too good because I had three needles sticking in my arms, and another two in my neck.
“It turns out I had a big tear in my liver. It was more than an inch wide and about an inch deep and my condition was compounded by air released between the lungs and ribs from the hole in my lung.
"The biggest concern was my internal bleeding. I lost two pints of blood into my membrane. Luckily it clotted and stemmed the flow.
"If it had leaked out much more and floated around in my stomach then I would have been in big trouble. The blood eventually got reabsorbed but, for a while, I felt really bloated.
"Still, I'll settle for that, just as I'll settle for the fact that I'm out of rugby for a while. It's a lot better than lying in intensive care waiting for an operation."What did for me was the combination of my large weight landing on Jones's upturned toe. The boot hit my diaphragm and sternum, while the studs caught my liver.
"At first, I thought I'd just done my ribs, albeit badly. My immediate thought was that at least a couple had been broken. But what really worried me was the fact that I was struggling desperately to breathe.
"That's why I lay still for so long on the ground - it wasn't so much the pain, more the fact that I couldn't seem to get much oxygen into my system."Tinds was released from hospital on Friday and is recovering at the home he shares with girlfriend Zara Phillips on Princess Anne’s Gatcombe Estate. There are probably worse places to recuperate, but it's touch and go whether he'll play again this season.. 

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