Nick Izikwe underwent open-heart surgery and was playing four months later.

Nick Isiekwe has played eight times for England. Credit: Getty Images/Dan Mullan

England striker Nick Isiekwe has been revealed to have undergone heart surgery before playing in the Six Nations and helping the Saracens win the Premier League last season.

< p> Isiekwe underwent surgery in September 2022. He was diagnosed with a dilated aorta and there were fears that his main blood vessel might rupture.

Isiekwa was due to retire at the age of 24, but his career was saved by personalized external aortic root support surgery (Pears) by Conal Austin, a cardiothoracic surgeon at Guys and St Thomas' Hospital in London. The problem was initially revealed through an MRI after he became short of breath while recovering from Covid.

“I am incredibly grateful to this man,” Ishikwe says in an interview with The Times.

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“We play sports and people love to watch, but it's guys like Conal Austin who save people's lives. They are real heroes. The things these guys can do are mind-blowing.»

The Pierce procedure was invented 19 years ago and has yet to receive official FDA approval in the United States of America, despite the fact that over 800 people around the world received one.

Ishikwe is credited with being the first person to return to sustained elite-level contact sports after such an operation. He played again for the Saracens four months after going under the knife and represented England in the Six Nations under Steve Borthwick.

He became an integral part of the Saracens' domestic title-winning campaign and delivered an impressive personal performance in the final against Sale Sharks in Twickenham.

«I was blown away,» Austin said. . “I tell my fellow surgeons around the world about this. They say it was unique to be back in elite contact sport so soon after major heart surgery and represent England.”