On the face of it, there isn't a lot that Adam Dodd, left-back at FC United, and Christian Eriksen, playmaking midfielder at Manchester United, have in common, but beneath the surface, they share a bond that has allowed them to return to the game they love.
Eriksen is thriving at United, playing the best football of his career for the biggest club of his life, just 18 months after suffering a cardiac arrest on the pitch while in action for Denmark during the European Championship.
The Dane's return to the game after being fitted with an Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator (ICD) - which responds to life-threatening rhythms and can shock the heart to avoid cardiac arrest - was a story that gripped football, so when Dodd suffered his own brush with mortality last June, he knew there might be a way back.
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It was the night of June 3 when Dodd suffered a cardiac arrest in bed at home. His girlfriend had to perform CPR for 16 minutes while waiting for the ambulance to arrive. When the paramedic performed a fourth defib shock before loading Dodd into the ambulance, he admitted it would be rare for him to come back from such a trauma.
Not only is Dodd still here, but he's back on the pitch. Earlier in January, he came on as a substitute for FC United, playing the final 20 minutes of a 2-2 draw at Broadhurst Park. It was his 100th appearance for the club, but for a while it looked like a milestone he would never reach.
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"Eriksen was in the safest place for it to happen. I was in my bedroom, my girlfriend was carrying out CPR for 16 minutes. It was a race against time really. Most people would have written me off and you couldn’t blame them," Dodd, 29, tells the Manchester Evening News.
He survived the heart attack and awoke from a coma without any lasting damage, but after spending three weeks in hospital and having the ICD fitted, he then contracted pneumonia.
"I had to fight for my life again to be honest, it was probably the worst two weeks of my life," he said. "I was waking up trying to catch my breath, the pain I would describe like you’re drowning and being stabbed in the back at the same time. I was waking up in a pool of sweat."
It was when Dodd went back for his first check-up four weeks after having his ICD fitted that he was told he might be able to continue his career in the game. "They said ‘what are your thoughts on going back to footy? Because you can’. It just set me free like a bird, I can go and live my life like I’ve always done," he said.
Ever since that day the self-employed plumber has targeted a return in the New Year. He has always been physically fit and kept himself in shape, which doctors believe helped him survive in the first place, and it also meant he had a head start when it came to building up his fitness again.
He lost three stone in hospital and had a broken rib and sternum from the CPR, so had to rebuild muscle mass as well as let his body recover, but returned to training at FC United around the new year and was named in the squad for the game against Whitby Town on January 7, being introduced to a rousing reception at Broadhurst Park.
"I don’t think it’s really sunk in, I’m still focused on getting back to where I was, that’s match fit and my performance levels from where I left off," said Dodd.
"When I do think about it, I’ve gone from dying, to being given a slim chance of waking up at all, then a slim chance of waking up normal, to getting back on the pitch in six months' time, it’s unbelievable."
Dodd was always going to take inspiration from Eriksen, but around three weeks after he'd had his own ICD fitted, the midfielder signed for United.
He's been outstanding since returning to the game after his own cardiac arrest in the summer of 2021, first at Brentford and now at Old Trafford.
"One of the first things I said when I woke up was ‘give me what Eriksen’s got’. The level he’s playing at is obviously a lot higher," said Dodd.
"If people look me and Eriksen they wouldn’t think anything of it. He’s doing it week in and week out in the Premier League and playing some of the best football he ever has done. You can just pick up from where you left off."
Dodd received motivational messages from friends that centred around Eriksen during his own comeback and when he returned to Broadhurst Park for a game in November, he was presented with an FC United shirt that had been signed by Eriksen.
"To Adam, don't ever give up, Christian Eriksen", was the message left on the shirt, and Eriksen told FC United manager Neil Reynolds that he would like to meet Dodd once he had made his return.
"The kit man and the gaffer surprised me with it, they got it signed for me then I went to one of the games and they had framed it for me," said Dodd.
"I think Eriksen did say to the gaffer ‘let me know when he’s back and I’ll come back and meet him’. It would be great to meet and embrace and share the story of what we’ve both been through really."
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