When you love something, you never want to leave it no matter what, nobody would be able to stop you from doing what you love, not even for a disease that might end up with your life. This was the case of a Ghanaian soccer player who did what he loved until his last breath.
Overview:
Raphael Dwamena was a Ghanaian pro soccer player who played as a forward for multiple teams in his career across the globe. He played with Swiss side BSC Old Boys, Spanish side Real Zaragoza, Austrian side Lustenau, Salzburg, and more. He was born in the city of Nkawkaw in 1995. He was the top scorer of Albanian side FC Egnatia with 9 goals. Everything seemed to go fine for the talented player, but on November 11 in a match against FK Partizani, he fell on the pitch unexpectedly.
Details of the Incident
Video of Raphael Dwamena collapsing in the football game in Albania pic.twitter.com/zVtHMfu7Id
— Kickgh.com ✪ (@Kickgh) November 11, 2023
A video shows the referee, players from both teams running to assist, and medical personnel treating Dwamena on the turf around the twenty-four-minute mark. Within minutes of his going down, an ambulance arrives on the pitch, and players, distraught, turn away and put their heads in their hands. Dwamena and his six-year wife Ama were driven to the 20-minute-drive Kavaje hospital, but Dwamena died before they arrived. At just 28, he unexpectedly passed away, shocking the football community and inspiring condolences from all across the world. However, it also raises challenging and unsettling issues.
What’s the reason behind his collapse?
Doctors and friends had advised Dwamena to quit playing football on multiple occasions due to cardiac problems. Despite an agreed-upon £10 million (now $12.4 million) fee, he failed a medical at Brighton & Hove Albion in 2017. His cardiac problem also caused his contracts at other European teams to expire early.
Early in 2022, he underwent surgery to remove the implanted cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD), a tiny battery-operated device, which had been placed in his chest in January 2020.
The doctor who installed Dwamena’s defibrillator, Antonio Asso, is certain that the athlete’s choice to take it out of his body caused his demise.
“Unfortunately, it was easy to predict what happened last Saturday,” he stated. He had experienced ventricular fibrillation two years prior (a heart rhythm disorder that is fatal if an electric shock is not given to the chest within ten minutes). Luckily, he was revived by the implanted defibrillator as it was functional. Later, he requested that his device be removed, and last Saturday, when the malignant arrhythmia returned, there was no defibrillator in his chest.
Raphael would still be alive if the defibrillator hadn’t been taken out, yet he passed away as a result of a noble personal choice. It is the conclusion of a depressing and expected tale.
Dwamena’s decisions, beliefs, and character
A guy of great religious conviction, Dwamena was resolved to keep doing what he loved most. He once said, “God is the one who looks after my heart.”
Klejdi Zenelaj, general director of Egnatia, maintained that the team had followed the Albanian Football Federation’s policy and performed appropriate medical examinations on Dwamena. He also mentioned that the team had examined Dwamena three times after his arrival in December 2022.
Zenelaj remarked, “He ultimately chose to play; it’s his life.” “As long as the club completed all of the tests, he has the final say. and everything ran smoothly.
This is the tale of a gifted football player who could not bring himself to give up his beloved sport.
