VIDEO - 'I felt I wasn't going to make it': All Black Williams reveals open-heart surgery journey
SOCIAL SPOTLIGHT: Former All Blacks centre Sonny Bill Williams revealed his journey of undergoing open heart surgery following a diagnosis that he had a congenital heart defect.
The diagnosis came during a routine check-up after a follow-up appointment from a previous neck surgery he underwent, Williams explained.
“A few months ago after my neck surgery, I went for a routine heart check-up, and they found that I had a heart defect that I was born with,” Williams said pre-op.
Williams delivered a powerful message following his successful open-heart surgery procedure.
“The operation was a success,” Williams said from his hospital bed.
“My message now is to bring awareness to this [disease], because there are a lot of people that have this disease and they just don’t know about it.”
He added six days after the operation: “I’ve really been humbled. One of the nurses said that I’ve had one of the biggest cardiac surgeries that there is; it’s like having two surgeries in one.
“After that second day, I won’t lie, and the second night when I was by myself, I honestly felt like I wasn’t going to make it.
“I was having hallucinations; I was delirious. I was cold but at the same time sweating; I couldn’t sleep and was in pain.”
*See the full video below!
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