- Tom Lockyer’s heart stopped for two minutes during a game in December 2023
- He is determined to return to the pitch but suffered a setback during training
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Luton Town captain Tom Lockyer has shed new light on the six-month injury setback that delayed his return to the pitch after suffering a cardiac arrest in December 2023.
Lockyer’s heart stopped for more than two-and-a-half minutes during a Premier League match at Bournemouth before being restarted by medics. Seven months earlier, he had also collapsed at Wembley during the Championship play-off final.
The 30-year-old admitted that, after being ‘technically dead’ during the incident, he was relaxed over the prospect of not being able to continue playing.
He was fitted with an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) to regulate his abnormal heart rhythm and also visited Professor Sanjay Shah, the cardiologist who helped Christian Eriksen with his comeback after his cardiac arrest at Euro 2020.
Lockyer was poised to play his first match for Luton’s Under-21 side last December, only to damage his ankle ligaments. He was then forced to undergo two operations, the second carried out because the first had failed to correct the issue.
Asked for his thoughts on the setback while guesting as a pundit on Sky Sports on Saturday, he said: ‘Very challenging.
Luton Town captain Tom Lockyer has opened up on his six-month injury setback
Lockyer is determined to continue playing but is sidelined after damaging his ankle ligaments
He suffered a cardiac arrest during a Premier League game at Bournemouth in December 2023
‘I was close to ticking off my three games to get cleared heart-wise. Two days before the first one I rolled my ankle in training and ended up needing surgery.
‘I got two months into that. The surgery wasn’t a success, so I had to have it re-done. I’m six months in now and hopefully out of the boot one day. We’ll see on that one.’
Lockyer previously opened up on his awareness he is entering his career’s waning years, but vowed to give it everything to return and represent Luton again.
He told BBC Sport Wales: ‘Time’s not on my side, when you start pushing 30 you start thinking the clock is counting down, can this be achieved?
‘But I’m a positive person, I wouldn’t be wasting everyone’s time if I didn’t think that was possible. I’m going to give it my best shot, but what will be will be.’
Reflecting on his cardiac arrest while on ITV’s Good Morning Britain, Lockyer vividly recalled believing he could die before medics saved his life.
He said: ‘There was no doubt this time and I kind of knew as well which is why when I started coming round and I couldn’t move or speak, the staff there on site were more in “go-mode”. They were focused and it was very serious.
‘That’s when I was like, “wow, I could be dying”. Obviously when you’re lying there and you can’t speak and can’t move, it’s not a nice feeling to have.
Lockyer posed with the medical staff who saved his life by restarting his heart on the pitch
The defender had also collapsed during Luton’s Championship play-off final win in May 2023
‘But when I could move and speak, I felt fine, which is the mad thing. I wasn’t in any sort of pain. My heart got back into rhythm thanks to the incredible medical staff.
‘I’m so lucky it happened where it did because if it was to happen outside of hospital or a football pitch, the survival rate is only one in 10.’
