SPORT-SOCCER/MERTENS UPDATE Belgium's Gregory Mertens dies three days after collapse on pitch during match

Record ID: 157449

  • Title: SPORT-SOCCER/MERTENS UPDATE Belgium's Gregory Mertens dies three days after collapse on pitch during match
  • Date: 30th April 2015
  • Summary: GENK, BELGIUM (APRIL 28, 2015) (REUTERS) INTERIOR OF ZIEKENHUIS OOST-LIMBURG HOSPITAL WHERE GREGORY MERTENS WAS TREATED SIGN READING (Dutch): "Critical care"
  • Embargoed: 15th May 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA1BXOS39QCBZ3U8ULH3TX8CN4Z
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Belgium under-21 international Gregory Mertens died on Thursday (April 30), three days after collapsing with heart failure during a match, a spokesman for his club, Lokeren, said.
    The 24-year-old defender had been in a coma since going into cardiac arrest early in a reserve team game on Monday (April 27).
    Club spokesman Herman Van De Putte said that his condition continued to worsen and the player's family had agreed with doctors to switch off the life support system.
    "Frankly we have been expecting it already for a while," he said. "It was clear from the beginning that there was very little hope and as time went by, that hope was getting smaller and this morning we heard that it was a matter of a few hours instead of days and this afternoon around four o'clock the inevitable happened."
    "This morning the players were informed that he was very critical," said Van De Putte. "The family was asked to say goodbye to Gregory, it was imminent. This afternoon, the players are notified individually. The process to cope with it will be a bit different from player to player. Some will seek confort with each other, others want to be left."
    "Much too soon must we bid farewell to Gregory Mertens," the club said in a statement. "We are a football club. Everyone in and around the club breathes football. But suddenly something happens where we realise football is just football.
    "Today is such a time ... The medical team did all they could to save Gregory but in the end had to recognise their impotence. Gregory passed away today about 4:30 PM (1430 GMT)."
    "His family were able to say their farewells."
    Mertens, who joined top-flight Lokeren last summer after nearly 100 appearances for Cercle Bruges, collapsed 15 minutes into the game at Racing Genk and despite lengthy efforts to bring him round doctors quickly said his survival needed a "miracle".
    Lokeren will go ahead with their match away against Westerlo on Friday (May 1) with supporters' club chairwoman Mary Dieleman planning a tribute to Gregory Mertens and his team shirt number four.
    "We have decided that we will organise an action together to give Gregory the honour he deserves, to support his family, his friends, his teammates, even to the promises, the guys who were there Monday as it all happened. The necessary banners and tifo (raised placards in a pattern) will be present tomorrow," she said.
    Usually about 450 supporters travel to away games, but Dieleman is expecting many more to make the trip this time.
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