Thiago Silva is a household name when it comes to football. Now aged 36 years, it is very difficult to believe how far the footballer has come in his footballing journey. Thiago Silva Thiago Silva is lucky to play football considering what happened when he was just 21 years old.
In 2005, while playing for Dynamo Moscow, Thiago was diagnosed with a bacterial infection. He had contracted tuberculosis and was hospitalized for 6 months. The condition had worsened and the doctors indicated that he had stayed with the condition for over six months before it was detected.
Tuberculosis had reached an advanced stage to a point that the doctors considered removing part of his lungs to ensure that he survives. Before the surgery started, Silva’s mother together with her wife advised against it arguing that it will spell an end of Silva’s football dreams.
Silva was told he had just two weeks to live, and the doctors said he was very lucky that the disease was discovered not too late enough.
Silva said; “In 2005 I was sent out on loan to Dynamo Moscow, but the city was horrible, I was cold and got ill,”
“I was in hospital for six months. I was 10kg overweight and, despite everyone else in the hospital being so skinny and not wanting to eat, I was always hungry.
“My mother said I didn’t look ill, but I couldn’t move.
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“The doctors would tell me to get up and go for a walk, but I couldn’t do it. This disease is also contagious, so I was put in isolation, only able to play computer games and go on the internet.
“Every now and then a doctor would come in and give me an injection, three or four times a day, plus 10-15 pills.
“I eventually found out that I’d had tuberculosis for six months. The doctors said if another two weeks had passed, I might not have been able to recover.
“I almost died. This is why, whenever I play, I think back to those moments in Russia.”
To survive, the doctor advised Silva that part of his right lung had to be cut. This meant the end of his footballing career. His wife however stood firm against doctors’ recommendations. Isabelle told AP:
“I told them no one would open my husband up and end his dream.
“I am not a doctor, but no one believed he should go through surgery.
“To see him wearing the Brazil shirt is a victory for us all, especially those that know him from those days.”
Silva was later given a clean bill of health but later he admits he felt like quitting football. He told Gazzetta dello Sport magazine Sport Week:
“I had thought of quitting football altogether.
“There was another occasion when I went to Flamengo for a trial and after two sessions they said I could go, as I was no better than any of the players they already had.
“I told my mother I didn’t want to play football anymore, as nobody wanted me.
“However, she said in that case I’d have to go work for my brother, so I immediately changed my mind and looked for another club!”
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