Rugby League World Cup: Cameron Ciraldo in major health scare
Cameron Ciraldo’s final game of rugby league almost ended in tragedy with fears he would become a diabetic after suffering a serious pancreas injury while playing for Italy in the World Cup.
After vomiting a short while after the game, the initial diagnosis was Ciraldo had lacerated his pancreas when he took a heavy tackle from Tongan centre Konrad Hurrell in Italy’s final World Cup game.
He has been in a Leeds hospital for a week and is not expected home for at least a few more days.
Ciraldo didn’t eat for three days after the tackle and is only now able to swallow teaspoons of soup.
”I was enjoying a beer with the boys after the game and was winding down,” Ciraldo said.
”It wasn’t until a couple of hours later that I had stabbing pains in my stomach and thought something might’ve been wrong.
”The boys were getting ready to go out and celebrate the end of the World Cup and I was starting to put my clothes on but I felt sick and bent over in agony and started spewing.
”I couldn’t go out with the boys and told them I’d meet them later but I couldn’t stop spewing.
‘The physio called the ambulance … and I went to hospital. I thought I had a stomach bug.”
Amazingly, Ciraldo returned to the field after the tackle and played on, unaware of the damage done. ”I just felt like I was winded after the tackle. I even laughed with [Hurrell] and told him he got me a good one.”
His former Cronulla teammate Brett Kearney has visited, as has Panthers coach Ivan Cleary and NRL referee Grant Atkins.
”They told me that I could have become a diabetic,” Ciraldo said. ”I was lucky to have the two best doctors in their field at the hospital.”
His parents Nick and Kelly have been by his side, having travelled to England to watch their son play. But his wife Kim, his stepson and three young daughters remain in Sydney.
”I’m lucky my parents have been here otherwise it would’ve been very tough being so alone,” Ciraldo said. ”I rang my family after the game and told them I’d be home in about two days and they were excited but things turned out for the worse.”
It’s not the first serious injury for the back-rower. His ankle was horrifically dislocated while playing for Newcastle in 2009.
After 94 top-grade games, the 29-year-old decided to call time on his playing career and will take up a role as an assistant under-20s coach at Penrith.