By Martin Morgan

Last updated at 16:18, Sunday, 27 September 2009

Cumbria's World Cup star Rob Purdham has been warned one more blood clot could end his career.

Rob Purdham

The ex-Whitehaven favourite is recovering after facing surgery twice in a fortnight for clots in his arm prompted by an horrific training ground collision with team-mate David Howell. And he knows he cannot afford another incident.

“The specialist has said this is my last chance, and if it happens again, he won’t know what else to do,” said the Harlequins skipper. “From a team perspective, I can’t play a few games and then have a few months off.

“I wouldn’t do that to the club. I’d rather pack in and find something else to do. I’m paid a wage to play.”

The collision ended Howell’s season, and two weeks later Purdham, who first underwent surgery for a blood clot three months ago, discovered that one of two arteries pumping blood in to his hand was blocked from palm to elbow, caused by the bump in training.

Two operations followed and Purdham is now on drugs to prevent a further clot. “The collision turned out to be bad as he bust his lip and suffered fractures to his face and eye socket,” the 29-year-old continued. “He was at three-quarter pace and I was almost at full pace, so it was quite a bang. He fell in to me and that’s how I damaged the artery in my forearm.”

Despite being laid up, Purdham is looking on the bright side and planning a return to action next season. “I’ve got two or three weeks of doing absolutely nothing, and I’m bored out of my brain down here,” he quipped. “After six weeks I may be able to do some light weights, but I may have to stay off contact until Christmas.”

Purdham featured in England’s World Cup campaign Down Under last year but was not concerned at missing out this week on the first batch of players named for the end-of-season Four Nations train-on squad.

“It doesn’t bother me after the season I’ve had,” he said. “It could all be over for me if there’s another clot, and the main thing for me is to keep fit for the start of next season. As long as I can play again, that’s the main thing.”

He is stunned that Quins missed out on the play-offs after their fine start to the campaign

“After round 15 we had 10 wins and five losses, and were fourth with a game in hand,” he added. “But it then went downhill rapidly.

“It was probably one of the worst collapses in our history. All we had to do was win two more games to get in to the play-offs.

“But the harder we tried, the worse we got.”

First published at 09:08, Saturday, 26 September 2009
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk