'Being on the pitch again is an indescribable feeling' says star playing with defibrilator

By Pitchside Europe (original post on Eurosport)

The chances are that you won't have heard of Daniel Engelbrecht, but he has made history by becoming the first professional footballer in Germany to take to the pitch thanks to a defibrilator inserted into his chest.

The 24-year-old almost died after collapsing on the pitch during a league match for Stuttgarter Kickers in July 2013.

But 16 months later he is back in the professional game, playing the final 14 minutes of the Cup clash aainst FV Ravensburg at the weekend.

And it's all thanks to a tiny defibrilator inserted into his chest, monitoring his heart, and administering a corrective electric shock in the event that something goes wrong.

"Being able to be on the pitch in another professional match is an indescribable feeling. It was a really big step for me. I am lucky to be still alive," Engelbrecht told Süddeutsche Zeitung  (as reported in English via The Guardian) - and given the recent deaths of players such as Spain's Dani Jarque and Belgium's Bobsam Elijiko, and the cardiac arrests suffered by England's Fabrice Muamba andJapan's Naoki Matsuda, there is not a hint of hyperbole about his words.

And Engelbrecht admitted that a part of him was terrified about making a return - the more so since his decision to return flew in the face of almost all the medical advice he was given.

"Before the match, the fear was back, of course,” he said.

“I don’t think I’ll ever be able to get rid of it...

"After the diagnosis no one really believed that I’d ever be able to make a comeback. That makes it ever nicer that I’m able to say that I’m back.

"I would have never forgiven myself if I hadn’t tried. I’ve set myself this goal and given everything to get there.

“The last year was the worst in my life. I wasn’t allowed to do anything, no sport, no strain – certainly no stress. I had to live the life of an 80-year-old.

"Because of the drugs I was constantly tired, yet I couldn’t sleep properly at night. There were phases when I had to take so many tablets that I suffered from hallucinations.

"When I woke up at night, I saw people walking through my room or sitting down beside my bed. It got so bad that I could no longer sleep on my own.”

Those dark days are now over, however, now that he - like Belgium's Anthony Van Loo before him - has returned to his football career.

Van Loo's experience, incidentally, is both positive and negative: the former national team U21 collapsed while playing a top flight match for KSV Roeselare in 2009, but the defibrilator did its work impeccably, shocking the star back to life.

Such tales will give Engelbrecht plenty of encouragement, particularly now that he has conquered his inital fears by getting back into action.

"It was a really big step for me," Engelbrecht said of his return to the pitch.

"With time I will hopefully get used to it. At the very least I’ve got the safe feeling that the defibrillator will bring me back to life.”