AFL: Jeremy Howe opens up on brutal arm injury during Collingwood’s clash with Geelong

Collingwood gun Jeremy Howe has likened the trauma of his brutal arm injury to that of a car accident after returning to training after four surgeries in the space of 11 days.

Howe suffered three fractures to his arm after he landed awkwardly during the Pies’ Round 1 clash with Geelong last month, with his concerned teammates rallying around their vice-captain as he left the pitch.

Surgery on the injury didn’t go according to plan and he had to go back to the hospital to treat an infection in the same arm, and Howe says the ordeal was “really challenging.”

“I had the original surgery and it all went really well…but since there was a compound fracture there is always a chance of infection,” Howe told me. AFL360.

“I checked out three days after surgery, and I probably really started working out on that Thursday. I was probably wrong.

The Magpies’ vice-captain had to undergo four surgeries in 11 days following his Round 1 injury

“(I was) sweating a lot and was severely dehydrated and starting to get a little crazy at home. The call was to go back (to have it re-evaluated), and sure enough I had an infection from the soil the bone had passed through.

‘Luckily we got it in time and they worked really hard. Four surgeries later I feel normal again.’

Although he is back in training, Howe remains sidelined indefinitely, saying the back of his arm was open for nearly the entire time he spent in the hospital.

“They kept covering it up every day and every third day I was there I went back for another procedure to wash it out and make sure everything was clear with the expectation that I wouldn’t have to go back to experience it one more infection,’ he said.

“Fortunately, they did a fantastic job and I’m back running, which is really nice.

“I’ve broken bones before which you assume is pretty standard procedure when you’re having surgery. But what an infection entails is something I have not been exposed to.

“The medication you’re on, the drips you’re constantly on, your blood is drawn every day — you’re under constant observation given what you’ve been through.

“The nurses and doctors did a fantastic job. They should definitely take a lot of positives from the way they treated me, that definitely got me through.”

He admitted his ordeal was mentally challenging and likened it to a car accident

He said the injury was like a “car crash” and he struggled mentally to overcome the setback.

“We are in the entertainment business and the two and a half hours on the field is what we really enjoy. When things like this happen, that’s probably the dark side of the sport as well,” Howe said.

‘I found the isolation part in the hospital a real challenge. The club was great, I had people in – ‘Fly’ (Craig McRae) was huge, ‘Wrighty’ (Graham Wright) was in and players were coming in and seeing me.

“But the inability to do what you normally do — you can’t pick up the kids and clean things up — you can’t really do much.” You’re on your back 23 hours a day, but we got through it and the support has been amazing – not just from the footy community, (but from) friends and family, it’s gone through the roof.

“I’m very grateful to those people, because I’m in a good place now.”