Soccer Player Plans Return : USIU’s Er Hopes to Play Despite Open-Heart Surgery

Cem Er remembers racing toward a high-bouncing soccer ball, flying through the air and heading the ball into the net. The next thing he remembers is lying in an ambulance pleading for water and thinking he was dying.

A second after Er, a 20-year-old sophomore at United States International University, headed the ball, he collided with Cal State Los Angeles goalkeeper David Jacques.

Last Wednesday, Cem Er (pronounced Jim Air) suffered a rare--and frightening--injury during an afternoon soccer match at USIU.

Jacques’ knee rammed into Er’s sternum. The impact caused a small tear in Er’s heart, something his doctors said had never happened before from a blunt injury in athletics.

Later that night, Er, from Istanbul, Turkey, underwent open-heart surgery at Sharp Memorial Hospital to repair a hole in one of the chambers of the heart.

“I thought I was dying, I couldn’t get my breath,” Er said.

During the ambulance ride, he was struggling with paramedics, even spitting on them, as he pleaded for water. “I’ve never felt like that before, I didn’t think I would live again.”

But by Saturday, Er was walking through the halls of the hospital and doing some light exercises. He said most of the pain from the surgery has subsided, but he’s still weak.

Sunday, he watched football games on television.

“I can’t do sports right now, that’s what’s the worst,” he said. “I was watching television and they were playing American football. They were running, and I said ‘Aw, shoot, I wish I could run.’ But I believe I will be able to go back (to playing soccer) soon.

“It’s really hard to explain, because I’ve never been like (this) in my life. I can’t get up easily, it’s hard to walk and I can’t run. I mean, actually, I can’t do whatever I want. It’s really hard for me, you know. I feel like I’m in a prison.”

Er said his spirit has not been broken because of the injury. He is confident that he will return to soccer without any fears of a repeat collision. Cardiac surgeon Robert Reichman, who repaired the tear, said Er will have to take it slow for six to eight weeks, which is the normal healing time for the breastbone after open-heart surgery. Reichman was uncertain when Er would be able to play but said Er will be sidelined from competitive sports for six months to a year and that the scar tissue surrounding his heart will reduce the risk of a similar injury.

Er seems to be handling the pain and frustration of his confinement well.

“If I hadn’t scored and had the surgery, then I would have been mad,” he said.

The goal, which put USIU ahead, 3-1, came with five minutes remaining in the second overtime period.

As the ball rolled into the net, most of Er’s teammates began celebrating. But midfielder Andy Walker, less than 20 yards from the collision, immediately knew Er was hurt.

“I just screamed right away for the trainers to come over,” Walker said. “I knew he was in trouble, but I didn’t know what to do. . . . After the trainers got to him I walked away, I was shaking.”

Student trainers Linda Rix and Brian Oliver, who administered cardiopulmonary resuscitation, are credited by doctors for saving Er’s life.

“(Er) kept saying ‘I can’t breath,’ ” Oliver said. “He could breath, but he was breathing in very deep breaths.”

Rix said she examined Er’s pupils and saw that he had gone into shock. She then ran to call paramedics.

Seconds later, Er passed out. Oliver determined that Er had no pulse and was not breathing. He began CPR and Er was soon breathing again.

“I was on the sidelines and we didn’t know how serious it was until they gave him mouth-to-mouth,” USIU defenseman Jim Desjardin said. “Then, the whole attitude changed; nobody wanted to play anymore. Everyone was stunned and scared to see a teammate down like that.”

Said Walker: “All of (Er’s) impact was on the ball, unlike the goalkeeper who knew to close up. Cem was just a bit too brave and that’s not such a bad thing.”

Er and Jacques were sprinting toward the ball from different directions, but Jacques, the larger of the two at 6-feet 1-inch and 190 pounds, saw Er and protected himself. Er (5-9, 155) saw only the ball.

The game was stopped, and USIU was credited with a 3-1 victory.

“After it (the collision) initially happened, I didn’t think much of it,” Jacques said. “I figured he’d get up after a couple of minutes, brush himself off and keep playing.

“But after I found out how serious it was, I was really shocked and upset.”

Jacques, who was not injured in the collision, said the incident initially made him think seriously about his future in soccer.

“I thought I could do two things: Either I could let this upset me, and dwell on it, or I could keep playing with the same intensity I always had. If I had to do it again, I wouldn’t want the same outcome but I would go as hard as I did and he probably would have gone as hard as he did and scored.

“I’m sorry it happened, but I’m not going to let it make me timid, and worry that I might get hurt out there or that I might hurt someone. Because if I go soft, it could be me on the ground.”

Barry Knotts, the trauma surgeon who initially treated Er at Sharp, said a tear in the heart from such an impact is extremely rare. When Knotts consulted medical literature available at Sharp, he found only 21 other cases of such an injury from a blunt blow. None were related to sports.

Reichman said Er amazingly needed no blood transfusions during the 2 1/2-hour operation, in which Er’s heart was stopped for six minutes by the surgeons. During the operation his breathing was taken over by a heart-lung machine.

“I opened my eyes in the (operating) room and I saw five men all around me with blue masks on and then they cut my chest,” Er said. “I didn’t feel anything, it was like my chest was itching, then I closed my eyes. Then one day later after surgery, I opened my eyes and everything was OK. I only felt lousy for one day (the day after surgery).”

Said Oliver: “If he wasn’t in such great physical shape and didn’t have such a strong desire to live, he probably wouldn’t have made it.”

Meanwhile, Er will catch up with his classes at USIU, where he is majoring in business administration.

He said the trauma of the accident probably was worse for his family in Istanbul. They were notified about the accident through an interpreter last Wednesday.

“My mom’s brother loves (soccer),” Er said. “He was trying to make me a good player . . . he was trying to make me into a professional player. This will be hard for him.”

Er seems to have no doubts about returning to sports or possibly a professional career.

“I was happy to come here,” he said. “I was trying to do my best.

“I had just gotten used to playing in the States (since transferring from London). I wish I could (still) play because I missed all of those games because I was ineligible.”

Er transferred to USIU midway through the semester from the university’s sister campus in London. There he met Andy Walker, who transferred from USIU for one semester of study in London last spring. Walker knew the Gull soccer team needed a left-footed kicker to balance the squad.

Walker joined the club soccer team at London and soon befriended Er. He knew Er averaged 32 points a game on the basketball team and was voted the soccer team’s most valuable player.

What’s more, Walker learned Er was a natural left-footed kicker.

“We needed a left-footed kicker and Cem fit the bill,” Walker said.

Plans were quickly finalized for Er’s transfer to San Diego before the summer break. But Er went home to Istanbul for the summer and lost touch with both campuses. A month after the fall semester began, Er arrived at USIU. However, there was a problem verifying his grades and he was ineligible to play soccer.

“When he returned from Turkey, he was in as good of physical condition as if he had done preseason training with us,” said Walker, who is originally from England.

After he obtained his transcripts from London and thus his eligibility, Er became a starting forward. He was playing in his fifth game and scored his fifth goal a split second after the collision.

“That was a great goal,” said Mike Hovenic, USIU’s soccer coach. “A costly goal, but it was a good one.”

It was a goal that Cem Er will remember for a long time.