Rugby league has to be one of the toughest sports in the world, but sometimes people forget that players’ lives can actually be on the line.
For former Castleford Tigers star and new Warrington Wolves signing Peter Mata’utia, that sacrifice became all too familiar when he nearly lost his life playing the sport following a freak accident.
“I got elbowed in my throat, went to hospital and choked on my own blood,” Mata’utia told the Talk Your Walk
“I went to have a scan and I was all good, but when I got in the chair it was horrific – I just stopped breathing and thought ‘something’s wrong’.
“20 seconds went past I still couldn’t breathe and started panicking.
“I climbed out of the chamber and started banging my chest and thought I was going to die.
“The nurses were trying to hold me down and that was it, I woke up in the room with blood all over my top and a bandage on my throat.”
The 31-year-old has revealed how a stroke of luck with regards to timing ensured he survived.
“The nurses weren’t allowed to cut my throat open for my surgery, but the surgeon was downstairs.
“It was lucky that the surgeon was there to cut open my throat instead of being upstairs or I would have been gone.”
