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Twenty-two year old Trinidad and Tobago defender Akeem Adams is fighting for his life at a hospital in Budapest, Hungary after suffering a massive heart attack last night.
Adams, who signed for top flight Hungarian team Ferencvaros on 7 August 2013, supposedly complained to a club official about feeling unwell last night. According to his local manager, Dion Sosa, Adams did not report to training this morning and, when his colleagues went to check up on him, they realised he suffered a heart attack.
The former Presentation College (San Fernando) student was rushed to hospital where he underwent two emergency operations.
Wired868 understands Adams is likely to have a third operation over the next 24 hours and Ferencvaros is making arrangements to have the player’s mother, Ancilla Adams, and brother, Akini Adams, flown to Budapest as quickly as possible. Akini Adams is the substitute goalkeeper for local Pro League team, Point Fortin Civic FC.
“He is in ICU right now and they are still trying to stabilise him,” Sosa told Wired868. “His agent, Humphry Nijman, will fly in (from Holland) today to keep me informed. But we were told that the next 24 to 72 hours would be very crucial…
“He is unconscious and hooked up to machines right now. It is real, real bad.”
Dr Szelid Zsolt, the chief cardiologist at Hungary’s National Sport Centre, told the Ferencvaros club’s website that the operation has prevented the possibility of further heart attacks. But Adams’ vascular system is still critical.
“The danger of further heart attacks has successfully been prevented but the current state of the player is still serious,” said Zsolt. “The following days will be crucial for his vascular system; he is under continuous medical provision in the emergency room.”
Adams’ health scare comes at a time when the footballer appears to be enjoying an upsurge in fortunes after his promising career stalled somewhat.
The tough, composed defender was just 16-years-old and had never played competitive senior football when then Trinidad and Tobago national football team coach Francisco Maturana gave him his full international debut against El Salvador on 19 March 2008.
(Courtesy www.libero.pe)
Adams, a former Under-17 World Cup player, was an unused substitute for Trinidad and Tobago’s most glamorous home friendly too when the “Soca Warriors” fell 3-0 in Port of Spain to an England team that included David Beckham, Steven Gerrard and Rio Ferdinand.
The Point Fortin native went on to represent Trinidad and Tobago at the 2009 Under-20 World Cup in Egypt but tragedy hit the following year as his father, Renwick Adams, died suddenly from a stroke at just 51.
Adams’ international career stuttered as, after two caps under Maturana, he managed just five outings under coach Otto Pfister and one for Hutson Charles. And, at club level, he jumped from W Connection to T&TEC to Central FC where his dodgy timekeeping led to his dismissal earlier this year.
Sosa and Nijman, a FIFA-registered agent, got the unemployed left back with a trial in Hungary and he snatched it with both hands.
(Courtesy www.fradi.hu)
The Ferencvaros team, which once employed present Trinidad and Tobago national goalkeeper Jan-Michael Williams and Point Fortin Civic attacker Matthew Bartholomew, is Hungary’s most successful club with 28 domestic league titles. But Adams remarkably walked straight into their starting line-up.
At present, Ferencvaros is one point off the top of the Hungarian first division. Adams played for 90 minutes on Sunday as the “Green Eagles” whipped Ujpest 3-1 in front of 22,000 supporters at the Ferenc Puskas Stadium in Budapest.
“Things were going real good and the club and the fans were really impressed with him,” said Sosa. “They won five and lost one of his six games.”
Adams has not represented the “Soca Warriors” since a 3-2 loss to Finland at the Hasely Crawford Stadium on 22 January 2012. But he was anxious to break into present coach Stephen Hart’s squad and eventually win his dream move to the England Premier League.
“The plan was for him to spend a year in Hungary and then go to Holland to play for PSV for a year or two,” said Sosa, who also manages Belgium-based defender Sheldon Bateau and Kazakhastan-based stopper Robert Primus. “And, by 25 or 26, he would be eligible to move to the EPL without any work permit complications.”
Adams, a Chelsea fan, faces a much more serious battle at present.
(Courtesy CONCACAF)
His employers, friends, family and the Trinidad and Tobago Football Association (TTFA) are asking well-wishers to pray for a full and speedy recovery for the young defender.
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I wish him speedy recovery
We at North East Stars F.C will be praying for his speedy recovery, with God all things are possible.