First Team
TEAM NEWS | AIRDRIEONIANS (A)
26th April 2024
Club Doctor Derek McCormack is being hailed a hero after it was confirmed he and his medical team saved Jamie Fullarton's career. Thanks to the emergency treatment administered by the doctor during Tuesday's Tannadice meeting with Kilmarnock, the former Crystal Palace and St Mirren midfielder is expected to make a full recovery. But it has emerged that the incident itself was so concerning at the time, that it could have led to an amputation, but for the speedy actions of the medics.
The player suffered a fracture dislocation of his right ankle, but the added complexity was that his ankle rotated and the blood supply to his foot stopped. Doctor McCormack was required to carry out the gruesome task of manipulating the fracture to restore the blood supply. The doctor said, "Jamie was given pain killers but still must have been in considerable discomfort as I had to use a lot of force to get the blood flowing again. There is little doubt that if the blood had not been restored within minutes then the prospect of Jamie losing his foot would have been real."
Fullarton has now undergone an operation, and while he is set for a lenghty layoff, his football career has been saved in the long-term. Dr McCormack added, "Jamie will need a long period of rehabilitation, and I don't expect him to be back in action this season. "The injury was as bad as I have seen in my ten years involvement with football.
Sympathetic Manager Alex Smith said, "Our thoughts are with Jamie and we look forward to seeing him back at Tannadice whenever he can make it. As far as the team is concerned we could have done without this.
Danny Griffin and Stephen Wright have been long-term absentees from our defence, and now in Jim Paterson and Jamie we are missing strong left-sided players."
The player suffered a fracture dislocation of his right ankle, but the added complexity was that his ankle rotated and the blood supply to his foot stopped. Doctor McCormack was required to carry out the gruesome task of manipulating the fracture to restore the blood supply. The doctor said, "Jamie was given pain killers but still must have been in considerable discomfort as I had to use a lot of force to get the blood flowing again. There is little doubt that if the blood had not been restored within minutes then the prospect of Jamie losing his foot would have been real."
Fullarton has now undergone an operation, and while he is set for a lenghty layoff, his football career has been saved in the long-term. Dr McCormack added, "Jamie will need a long period of rehabilitation, and I don't expect him to be back in action this season. "The injury was as bad as I have seen in my ten years involvement with football.
Sympathetic Manager Alex Smith said, "Our thoughts are with Jamie and we look forward to seeing him back at Tannadice whenever he can make it. As far as the team is concerned we could have done without this.
Danny Griffin and Stephen Wright have been long-term absentees from our defence, and now in Jim Paterson and Jamie we are missing strong left-sided players."
