Erstwhile Cameroon national team captain Rigobert Song’s condition is now stable but remains in coma after he had stroke in the early hours of today morning.
The 40-year-old suffered from brain aneurysm and got rushed to Younde Practicing Hospital before being transferred to Centres Des Agences de Yaoundé.
Aneurysm, also capable of occurring in the heart, is a bulge in the walls of the blood vessels and sufferers risk rupture increase and bleeding.
When news of the former Indomitable Lions captain admission to emergency hospital broke, it sparked widespread panic on social media with some online papers even claiming, without confirmation, that the Cameroon football legend has passed on and news of his death is being concealed.
However snippets of details regarding his case, described severe by most Cameroonian papers, have it that the ex-Chad coach’s condition is now stable but remains in coma.
CamFoot, one of the leading football tabloids in the Central African country which styles it self as reference of Cameroon football, inevitably ran a FrontPage story aiming derides at the false news of death being bandied about Song.
The paper’s mention of how the 40-year-old former footballer has improved ‘for now but is yet to regain his power of speech’ does put panic and sensational reporting of Rigobert’s condition to check.
Centres Des Agences de Yaoundé, where Song is being subjected under close medical observation, is the scene of tight security with some parts of the hospital cordoned off to ward off curious onlookers and journalists.
Owing to the increased media coverage of Rigobert’s sudden illness, private visits at the referral is banned with even staffs at the hospital urged to present identify cards to gain any access to the unit the erstwhile footballer is placed in.
In a bid to aid his recuperation, family members are said to have held all night vigil, according to reports there.
To be airlifted tomorrow
In show of respect for his contributions football-wise to the nation and the legend he is, the Cameroonian government has volunteered to arrange private jet to ensure Rigobert, the man fondly sobriquet as ‘Magnan’, is flown out of the country first thing tomorrow morning to France for better healthcare.
In fact, a source in Yaoundé this afternoon says an aircraft has already been sorted and is being subjected to routine checks before departure date tomorrow.
Outpouring of solidarity messages
There was outpouring of solidarity messages from the football family for the ex-defender.
‘Our thoughts are with Rigobert Song and his family at this time,’ former club Liverpool FC said today over Twitter.
Samuel Eto’o said: [perfectpullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]‘I wish you courage and a speedy recovery big brother.’[/perfectpullquote]
Yaya Toure said on facebook: ‘My thoughts and prayers are with Rigobert Song and his family at this difficult time.’
With a career spanning as far back 1994 with spells at Metz Saliminata Liverpool, West Ham Koln, Lens, Galatasaray , Song has made a total four hundred and seventeen club appearances hanging up his boots in 2010 following a three-year spell with Turkish Trabzonspor.
He has 137 caps since breaking onto the Cameroon first team in 1993, scoring five times. He managed Chad last year guiding the Le Saos in the first-leg win over Egypt before losing in the return fixture.
Song was a part of Cameroon Indomitable Lions technical set up prior to this incident in his life.
Featured Photo: Courtesy of Dream Team FC
