- He suffered the same injury that almost ended the career of the star AFL player
- I thought it was just a harmless hit at a football game.
- He almost lost his leg with major surgery that saved him from amputation
A park football player tried to claw his way back from a serious injury he thought was “corky” only to discover he had the same gruesome injury that left a former AFL player’s leg completely exposed to muscle.
John Walker, a Springvale Districts defender, suffered what he thought was a normal cork in a practice game against Bonbeach in March.
Despite continuing to play, his condition worsened drastically the next day when he lost feeling in his leg. At the hospital, nurses expressed concern about the amputation.
After six hours of surgery, 80 stitches and a skin graft, Walker began a remarkable 42-day recovery that left him in shock.
“I went to the beach that night to recover a little bit, lay down and thought it was just a normal cork,” Walker told News Corp.
John Walker (left) with trainer Kris Thompson before his life-changing injury.
The inside of Walker’s leg and the gruesome scar on the outside of his leg after the freak injury and major surgery.
‘I woke up on Sunday still very sore, back to the beach, more recovery.
‘The day went by, I got ready for work and then I started losing feeling in my leg so I thought I should get it checked.
“I went to the hospital and ended up going straight into surgery… six hours, 80 stitches and a skin graft later, here it is.”
Walker injury, known as compartment syndrome, occurs when pressure increases and reduces blood flow, depriving the muscles and nerves of nourishment.
Former St Kilda captain Jarryn Geary suffered the same injury in 2019 and spent a week in hospital with a long open wound to drain blood.
“I’ve heard about the injury before and seen pictures, but not this big,” then-Saints coach Alan Richardson said at the time.
“It’s a really big injury… but we’re relatively optimistic now that after a period of letting it heal and then getting back into training and seeing how he responds, he’ll have the opportunity to come back and play football.”
Geary’s injury required fewer stitches than Walker’s, highlighting how close Walker came to losing his leg.
In fact, he thought the nurses were just joking when they talked about removing the injured limb.
“They pretty much said, ‘You have to go under the knife immediately, otherwise you’re going to lose a foot,'” Walker said.
“At first I thought they were joking, ‘whatever, it’s just a hit.'”
“When I started signing the Wavers, that’s when I thought ‘this is pretty serious now, right?’
“I was two hours away from losing my foot, so I was glad I went (to the hospital) when I did.”
Walker is in the process of recovery now and began his return to football as soon as he was able to put weight on his leg again.
“Now it’s just nerve damage; the nerves will start to regenerate in a few months,” he said.
‘I still have feeling in the back of my leg, but the front of my shin and the top of my foot are all numb.
‘It’s like a little electric shock that runs through my leg every time I kick it.
“It is estimated that around 80 percent will return.”
