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Leeds Rhinos’ Zak Hardaker reflects on ‘scary’ seizure and why things might have been different

Zak Hardaker is now a Leeds Rhinos player – and he made his debut for the club last weekend in a defeat to the Salford Red Devils.

But, prior to that, the fullback or centre should have made his debut against Hull KR – if something as shocking as a seizure had not happened to him.

And, now Hardaker has opened up on the harsh reality of the situation.

“It was really scary – I’ve just gone for a walk with my son,” Hardaker said.

“If I wasn’t somewhere quite public and I was fortunate to have a paramedic that got hold of me it could have been a different story.

“It just so happens I did it outside the house she lived in, but I don’t think she saw me I think her husband saw me fall over.

“I just came to and she was just in my face and I was just a bit ‘what’s going on?’ and I didn’t know what was happening.

“I was just conscious of where my son was and I remembered I had him with me.

“I tried to stand up and said I wanted to go home, but she was a professional and knew what to do.

“She stayed with me and ordered me an ambulance but they said it would take over an hour so I was sat on the pavement for 45 minutes.

“When my partner’s mum came to take care of my son my partner took me to A&E and I was there for about six hours.

“I was really fortunate that as something as serious as this happened outside someone’s house that knew what they were doing.”

Doctors told Hardaker that the seizure was caused by the impact with the ground.

“They think the seizure has come from the impact of me falling down, so if I had landed on grass it might have been different.

“I didn’t feel poorly before I set off walking or I wouldn’t have set off – I’d come back from training and buzzing and that something like that happened at my best was really scary.”

Hardaker did have a few kind words for the paramedic which helped him.

“I think she’s called Rosie, I’ve been speaking to her since and she’s a lovely woman.”

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