Aaron McDermott manages to escape death by a whisker

The field of sports is highly entertaining and glamorous and it is considered to be a dream career. But at the same point of time, sports come with a lot of hard work and injuries which can often be fatal. While the whole world knows what happened to the unfortunate Aussie, Phil Hughes, many such incidents have taken place in the past and continues to do so. Wicketkeeper Mark Boucher had to retire from the game following an eye injury which was followed by Craig Kieswetter suffering a similar fate.

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Another horrific injury took place in Strabane where young  Aaron McDermott was the victim. The cricketer not only broke his neck and his leg but also suffered an open wound on his head. The wound was so deep that his skull was visible. Aaron was a part of the Strabane team which locked horns with Burndennett in a league match on Saturday. The bizarre accident took place when he tried to prevent the ball from crossing the fence and went on to hit a metal bar in the viewing area at high speed.

However, the cricketer was fortunate enough to escape death after falling victim to the shocking injury. Speaking to Belfast Telegraph, McDermott looked relieved. “I’m really lucky to be alive. It’s funny how things can change in an instant. It had rained just before the match. The grass was a bit greasy.”

“When the match was in full swing there was a ball hit and it was between me and another fielder. I turned to run after it to chase it down and then I went to slide to pull the ball back with my hand, but the pitch was wet and I just kept continuing. There was a downward slope to the green; I began building momentum and building speed as I slid off past the grass. I tried to turn myself as I could see the metal pole of a bench and I really did not want to go head first into it. I thought that would be very bad.” he said.

Aaron stated that the depth of the cut on his head was so much that the doctors could see his skull and tell him that there was a fracture. He also mentioned that the recovery process will be long but he will take it as it comes. “The cut on my head was so deep that the medics were able to look into my skull bone and see if it was fractured. I was transferred from Altnagelvin Hospital to the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast on Saturday night as they thought I might need spinal surgery.”

“I was looking at getting a pin in my leg and a pin in my neck and also a cage around my neck. But when we got there the surgeon looked over the X-rays and said that he thought we would get away without operating. He said with me being so young and my bones being healthy that he thought it would work. Thankfully I was allowed home on Tuesday. I will have to wear a neck brace for four months. It will be a long road to recovery but I’m going to just take it one day at a time.” concluded Aaron McDermott.