Cross-code footy great Sonny Bill Williams has been rushed into emergency surgery after a procedure to correct a problem with his neck resulted in a worrying infection.
The former NRL star and All Black first went under the knife about a week ago, but was taken back into the operating theatre when an abscess on his spinal cord made him gravely ill.
‘Post-surgery, few days later, woke up in the morning, fever, spewing, pus coming out of my wound,’ Williams told his followers on Instagram on Sunday night.
‘My wound got infected from the surgery so I had to rush up to the hospital.
‘Went up to the emergency ward, been there for a couple of days now.
‘The worrying thing about this is it’s so close to my spinal cord, the infection.
Sonny Bill Williams is pictured in hospital after having emergency surgery to fix an abscess that developed worryingly close to his spinal cord when his neck was operated on
Pictured: The infected wound that landed the former All Black back in the operating theatre
Williams’ wife Alana (pictured together) said her husband is ‘recovering slowly’
‘Inshallah [god willing] in the next couple of days, things will come good.’
Williams’ wife Alana provided an update in the comments section.
‘Would like to add that he had to undergo a second surgery within the week to clean out the infection and abscess sitting on his spinal cord,’ she wrote.
‘All went well and recovering slowly.’
The former Bulldogs and Roosters star went on to tell his followers that there was a silver lining to his health battle.
‘Count your blessings. I was in the emergency ward, sitting next to a lady who had just finished her chemo and she was back in because they found more cancerous cells,’ Williams said.
‘There was a man in there, a grown man, he was literally crying because of the pain he was in, and they couldn’t give him the pain relief that he needed.’
‘Being here in this space, man, it has just made my problems – not just in here with my health, but outside in my household … it’s made me so grateful for all of the challenges, because they’re all blessings.’
The ex-Roosters and Bulldogs star believes he has had four operations to correct neck problems he picked up in his playing days
Williams (pictured playing for the All Blacks) once had to have bone removed from his spine
Before the surgery that led to the infection, Williams said he believed it was the fourth operation he’d had on his neck.
He suffered from a bulging disc in his neck during his playing days and had a foraminotomy, which removes bone from the spine to alleviate pressure on nerves.
The 40-year-old used his first stint in hospital to send a warning to young athletes about what they could face in retirement.
‘Please remember this, I ain’t got no one here paying my bills from back in the days, no organisations, no CEOs ringing me making sure I’m OK,’ he said.
‘In high-performance space, if you’re not performing, what will happen? See you later with a handshake.
‘[But] I would never change my path as a sportsman because it brought me so much joy.’
