Premier League footballer Tom Lockyer has been discharged from hospital after having a device that can restart his heart fitted by doctors following his collapse on the pitch during a match.
The Luton Town captain suffered a cardiac arrest during the club’s match against Bournemouth on Saturday.
The club confirmed in a statement that Lockyer was discharged from hospital on Wednesday.
He has undergone a “successful procedure” to fit an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) device.
It was the second time the 29-year-old centre-back collapsed during a game, after a previous incident during Luton’s play-off final win on 28 May.
In a statement released on Thursday, the club said Lockyer had begun “a period of rehabilitation from the comfort of his own home”.
Luton Town, Lockyer and his family have collectively thanked Bournemouth’s supporters and club officials.
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They sent a special thank you to Bournemouth’s medical staff and midfielder Philip Billing who was the first to call for assistance for Lockyer.
“Supported by the actions of Bournemouth’s medical team and local paramedics, it was ultimately the protocols instilled and professional actions of our own medical staff that gave Tom this chance to recover and to whom we are thankful,” the statement added.
An ICD is a small device which regulates abnormal heart rhythms by sending electrical pulses, according to the British Heart Foundation.
Denmark player Christian Eriksen had one fitted after he collapsed during a European Championship match in 2021.
“It was pretty early in the hospital I was told that, with an ICD there are no limits,” Eriksen told Sky Sports News last year.
“You just have to let it heal for a few months, and after you can do whatever you’re capable of. It was pretty quick that I wanted to go back but I didn’t want to do anything pushy.”
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Lockyer, from Cardiff, made his international debut for Wales in 2017 and has made a total of 16 appearances for his country.
He was named in the 26-man squad which played at the 2022 football World Cup in Qatar – Wales’s first in 64 years.
