Mike Tindall, Zara Tindall’s spouse, is 43 years old and resigned from rugby in 2014. However, before his retirement, he was disabled by a succession of devastating injuries, one of which threatened his life.
The former athlete and I’m a Celebrity contestant was a member of the Bath and Gloucester rugby teams throughout his playing career. He was injured while playing in a Six Nations game against Wales in 2008.
A tackle caused him to dislocate a rib, which was followed by a lung puncture and a rip in his liver.
Mike spent three nights in intensive care following the incident, after which he told, “If the boot had impacted me a couple of inches higher or lower, I would have simply broken a couple of ribs rather than all of them.”
“That is not very nice, and I would have been out of rugby for a few weeks, but in light of what happened instead,” the player explained. “What actually happened was even more awful.”
He revealed that his opponent’s boot struck him in the sternum and diaphragm, and that the studs punctured his liver.
“At first, I thought I had just inflicted minor damage to my ribs. The first thing that occurred to me was that at least a few of them were broken. The fact that I was having such difficulty breathing was the primary source of my concern,” Mike reflected.
“At the time, I didn’t realize how critical the situation was,” he added. “I had no idea how severe my health was.” “ My liver developed a major tear, which was detected. It had a length of nearly an inch and a depth of about an inch.
“The bleeding inside of me was the most serious source of anxiety. I lost two pints of blood through my membrane, and if any more had come out and gotten mixed up in my stomach, I would have been in big trouble.”
Mike was eventually able to fully recover from his injury after some time. He was there for his then-girlfriend Zara as she prepared for a championship in Portugal at the time.
