When South Sydney icon Nathan Merritt takes a lap around Accor Stadium this weekend to celebrate the NRL’s Indigenous Round, he will do so knowing he is extremely lucky to be alive.
Merritt was rushed to hospital and put on a ventilator when he was found unconscious at his aunt’s house on October 6, just a week after playing in the Koori Knockout rugby league carnival.
The terrifying medical episode left him in a coma at Sydney’s Royal Prince Alfred Hospital after an episode initially believed to be caused by an adverse reaction to prescription painkillers.
Now the Bunnies legend has revealed how far he has come since then and how close he came to dying from a debilitating bout of double pneumonia.
Nathan Merritt is a club legend with the South Sydney Rabbitohs, playing 237 NRL games and scoring 154 tries – and he’s back at the club after almost dying last year
Merritt (pictured while receiving treatment) collapsed at his aunt’s house and was put into a coma in hospital, where doctors discovered he had a severe case of double pneumonia.
“I’d never heard of double pneumonia, it’s basically just a really bad round,” Merritt told the Sydney Morning Herald.
‘I was with my aunt and took a turn. I fell unconscious and woke up in the hospital a week later.
‘I can’t remember anything about it and ended up being in hospital for about six weeks. I was on a ventilator and in a coma for at least a week, seven days or so, and the next week I was in and out as well.
‘It often left me very dazed, especially when I first woke up and all the muscles on the right side of my body were shut down too. So I had to rebuild it and learn to live again, do all those basic things.
‘I learned to walk again, by the time I left hospital I was able to walk properly again, but that took quite a while, a few weeks before I got back to normal.
“Lucky to be alive, the doctors told me.”
Merritt will have the honor of presenting the winner of the Eric Simms Medal for the annual clash between Souths and Parramatta at full-time on Saturday.
It takes all his energy, but he is happy to be back at the club he loves and is grateful for every opportunity he gets.
“It definitely stopped me in my tracks, but I’m just grateful, grateful that I can breathe again,” he said.
“I’m slowly getting back into life and appreciating every day I have. Just being a father to my children is what I focus on and benefit from.
‘I have five: two 19-year-olds, a 15-year-old and two nine-year-olds.
‘The support I received was quite overwhelming. The hospital room was often packed when I was there. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate that support.
‘I can’t remember that first moment when I came to, I was in another world, but I remember the whole family with me.
“To now be back at the club and help hand out a medal with Eric Simms’ name on it, he is one of the greats for this club and the game. That is a very special moment for me and I am really looking forward to it.’
Merritt, pictured with current Bunnies player Jack Wighton, came to Rabbitohs training this week and will be in attendance for the Indigenous round match against Parramatta
Merritt said doctors told him he was lucky to be alive after his scary medical incident
Merritt presents the Eric Simms Medal to the best on ground after the Souths vs Eels match
Souths fans are hoping Merritt’s performance will lift the players’ spirits with the club at the bottom of the NRL ladder.
And while injured half Cody Walker won’t play in the match, he said Merritt will certainly inspire the rest of the team.
“To hear what happened to him and see him here after making a full recovery, it’s unbelievable,” Walker said.
‘He embodies what Souths stands for. He’s a fighter, he was always there [the] When he was playing, always floating around the footy, he broke records at the club.
‘He had the haircut like Ronaldo the footballer, he was just one of those players. I still remember the field goal he scored from the scrum line that day at the SCG [delivering a last-second win over Wests Tigers in 2009]just crazy plays that not many people could do.
“He’s a local junior, raised in Waterloo, and that’s exactly what the club is about.”