WORLD SQUASH NEWS
World Champion Palmer Recovering From Emergency Appendicitis Operation
Australia's world squash champion David Palmer is recovering at the King
Edward VII hospital in Bermuda after undergoing emergency surgery to remove
his appendix.
The Royal Gazette in Bermuda reports that Palmer, who was recently granted
Bermudan residency, was on the Island to take part in the Logic Bermuda
Squash Open tournament.
However, the world No3 was forced to pull out at the 11th hour after falling
ill over the weekend. What was at first thought to be a stomach virus turned
out to be something far more serious.
According to his coach, Shaun Moxham, the appendicitis was at an advanced
stage and was diagnosed just in time by specialists at the Bermuda hospital.
"It got to the point where it was getting a little bit gangrenous within his
stomach," Moxham told the Royal Gazette. "The appendix itself was turning
gangrenous and the next stage then is for it to explode. When that happens
it causes infection inside the body, in a lot of places where you don't want
to have infection, and that then would have been very difficult for the
doctors to treat. That can even go as far as being life threatening, so they
got it just in time."
The procedure itself was a success, Moxham said. "The operation went really
well. They could remove it through his belly button, so they didn't have to
cut through the muscles, which is great news for him, recovery wise," he
said. "It probably cuts about three weeks off
his recovery time."
Palmer arrived in Bermuda direct from New York, where he had been a
semi-finalist in last week's Tournament of Champions, the first Super Series
event of the year on the Professional Squash Association (PSA) Tour.
Palmer, a former PSA President, is expecting to be in hospital for less than
48 hours. "Obviously, we are going to have to be a little bit careful in the
first few weeks," Moxham said. "We don't want to rush him back. We want to
have him fit before he gets back on the court again.
"It's not only about being physically free, it's about being mentally free as
well. Obviously, he is going to be keen now because he was really looking
forward to playing this tournament - Dave's the sort of guy who just loves
being on the court, playing as much as he can.
"I think in three, a maximum of four, weeks you are going to see the best of
Dave Palmer again," Moxham added.