Melbourne prop Tui Kamikamica has revealed he could be just six weeks away from making a remarkable NRL comeback from a career-threatening stroke, declaring: “I will be back out there again.”
Kamikamica was rushed to hospital and required emergency surgery, the first of two operations, after suffering a stroke in late March. The episode resulted in stints in hospital and a rehabilitation ward, and raised questions about whether a 142-match NRL career had come to a premature end.
But after identifying and surgically correcting the cause – a patent foramen ovale (PFO), or flap-like opening between the heart’s upper chambers that fails to close after birth – Kamikamica has been given a clearance to return.
“I should be able to play in six weeks hopefully, if all goes well,” Kamikamica said.
“The doctor is happy, he’s giving me the green light to be back out there. To be honest, the first couple of weeks were so hard.
“First of all, you think ‘this is it’, you think your rugby league career has come to an end. I am glad it’s [the ordeal] all over. My family has been behind me all the way through, supporting me.
“It is what it is, your health is more important. I’m glad everything is done now, all the surgery. I’m happy I’ve got the green light from the doctor saying, ‘Don’t worry, you’ll be back out there playing this year’.
“That’s a big relief. You should have seen the smile on my face when he said that.”
Kamikamica has been a staple in a Storm side that, due to injuries or departures, has been without Ryan Papenhuyzen, Nelson Asofo-Solomona, Eli Katoa and Xavier Coates this season. Kamikamica, 31, explained the “scary” circumstances that resulted in him joining an already bulging casualty ward, just after returning home from Townsville following a loss to the Cowboys.
“I went to the toilet around 3.30am,” he said.
“I came back to lie down – you know how sometimes you lie on your arm and it’s numb? It felt like that and I couldn’t lift it up, couldn’t move.
“So I rolled myself onto the floor and from there I knew it was something serious here.
“After that I couldn’t talk. My partner turned the light on, turned me on the floor, I couldn’t move. She knew it was serious and called the ambulance straight away.”
Kamikamica underwent an initial surgery to remove a clot in his brain, and then a second last Thursday to fix a hole in his heart.
“One in four people have that,” he said. “That’s the reason why the blood clot went all the way to my brain. Pretty scary. That’s the reason I had the stroke …
“Straight after surgery. I asked the doctor, ‘Am I playing again?’
“He said, ‘No worries, I’m giving you the green light’.”
The Fijian international has been overwhelmed by the support from the rugby league community, including Storm captain Harry Grant running out for a match against the Panthers draped in a Fijian flag.
“It was pretty special when the boys did that,” he said. “The league community is so supportive, the love they have shown me. Some people I don’t normally speak to have given me messages, to see how I’m going. That’s pretty special. I truly appreciate it …
“A lot more football [is ahead of me]. I will be back out there again.”
