KOLORA-Noorat forward Mark Clissold has pencilled in Anzac Day for his return to football after a potentially serious heart condition derailed his pre-season.
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Clissold spent a week in Warrnambool Base Hospital’s intensive care unit after experiencing chest pains in the early hours of December 31 and again that evening.
The admission came a day before he and girlfriend Laurie Symons were due leave Australia for a month-long trip to Cambodia and Vietnam.
Clissold, 23, said doctors diagnosed him with pericarditis, an inflammation of the fibrous sac surrounding the heart known as the pericardium.
He later saw a specialist in Geelong, who took an echocardiogram and told him to return in three months’ time. The return appointment is on April 16.
In the meantime, he has been unable to work or exercise. He is not allowed to drink alcohol or caffeinated drinks such as Coca Cola or V.
The health scare came at a frustrating time for Clissold, who has returned to Kolora-Noorat after helping Simpson break a 21-year flag drought in 2014.
He is one of two assistant coaches under newly-appointed mentor Danny Finn but will be unable to have an on-field impact until round four at the earliest. Clissold said the April 25 return — Kolora-Noorat plays Old Collegians at Davidson Oval — was ambitious. But he has had “no worries” for the past month.
“I go back to the specialist on April 16. I’ll be hoping to get the all-clear then and start training,” he told The Standard yesterday.
“I wouldn’t see myself playing until a few weeks after that. I’ve got to get myself reasonably fit, match-ready.
“I’ve got to get the playing group to be good about it too. I don’t want to go straight in when I’ve done half the training.”
He recalled waking up with chest pains about 3.30am on December 31 but, aided by a couple of paracetamol tablets, managed to get back to sleep.
But the pains and shortness of breath remained that evening after a day of shopping in Warrnambool.
He attended Timboon Hospital, where a doctor took a blood test and recommended he be rushed to Warrnambool Base Hospital.
As New Year’s Eve celebrations got under way across south-west Victoria, Clissold was lying in a hospital bed, the excitement of heading overseas dashed.
“I’m very lucky it happened before I got on the plane. Who knows what would’ve happened if it’d happened over there,” he said.
With the worst of the symptoms gone, Clissold said he was looking forward to finally training again, subject to receiving the green light next month.
He did not anticipate returning to Kolora-Noorat so soon — his stint at Simpson lasted one season — but is rapt to be back.
“It just happened that way. I had a great year at Simpson. All the boys were unbelievable. We were lucky enough to win the grand final,” he said.
“It’s not something I did see, going straight back to the Power after winning the grand final, but it’s something that happened in the off-season.
“(I got) a few phone calls, every club ringing you. When I got the phone call from home, I thought it was a no-brainer to head back and play again.”
He said the Power, which opens its campaign against Deakin University at home on Saturday, had set a top-five finish as its first goal.
“Considering they didn’t make finals last year, we’ll be aiming to make finals,” he said.
“We definitely want to be up in the mix.
“That’ll be our starting point and we’ll reassess halfway through the year, see how we’re going, what we need to work on or if we’re going all right.”