Hibs’ midfielder Scott Allan has spoken candidly about the health issues that has caused him to miss much of the season.
In September last year, Allan was diagnosed with a heart condition called Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy which made him question whether he would play again.
His absence was the cause of much speculation amongst the Hibs’ fans but he returned to action as a substitute in the Betfred Cup semi-final defeat to St Johnstone.
The playmaker is keen to add minutes on the pitch before the end of the season but accepts that he may need a pre-season to regain the required fitness to make his mark again.
He told David Tanner on Hibs TV: “I’ve had a period of being back on the training pitch and finally got what I was aiming for back on the football pitch, so I feel now is a good time and I feel well within myself to speak about what I went through.
“I was diagnosed with a condition called Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy. That’s where the walls of the heart chamber become slightly thicker and it makes it hard to pump blood in and out of the heart.
“Relating to the symptoms I felt, which led me to get these tests, that was why it makes you fatigued with less oxygen throughout your body. I was getting dizzy spells – it all kind of integrated with each other.
“When the professor told me what I had I knew that’s why I was suffering from those symptoms and one of the big one was fatigue – I was fatiguing really quickly while I was playing at that moment.
“I really feared I wouldn’t play again. The way I’d been feeling up until I had that test physically and what I could give on a football pitch at that time was really worrying.
“I think when you’ve already lived your life with type one diabetes from such an early age, it was always in the back of my head that if anything was going to cause me problems it would’ve been that, so, to be diagnosed with something else while you’re still in your prime and I was really looking forward to this season to stamp my authority on the football park, on a human side it was a really difficult time in terms of telling your family and people around you.
“When you’ve got these kind of people close to you it spurs you on especially as I’ve got a young son who, for me, I always want to come to games to watch me play football. That was a hard part and a real motivation for me to get back on the park.
“I’m definitely not back at 100 per cent because I’ve not even been able to get a bounce game, but in terms of training fitness and general fitness outside of football it is the best I’ve felt.
“I won’t be 100 per cent until I’ve had games under my belt. Hopefully that comes soon, but if not I’ll get a pre-season under my belt and I’ll go from there again and I hope to be better than I was last year.
“I want to enjoy playing as much as I can. When you have that doubt that you might not, sometimes you take it for granted. I just want to enjoy every moment of it. Training out there at Easter Road and being round your team mates is something that you can take for granted. I just want to make the most of it and I know that’s quite cliché but it’s as true as it gets for me.”
John graduated from Telford College in 2010 with an HNC in Practical Journalism and since then he worked for the North Edinburgh News, The Southern Reporter, the Irish News Review and The Edinburgh Reporter. In addition he has been published in the Edinburgh Evening News and the Hibernian FC Programme.
