Grubber makes return following open-heart op

IT HAS been almost four months since Ocean Grove Football Club winger Isaac Wilkins underwent open heart surgery at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, but now the long-time Grubber is back on the track again alongside his teammates as the footy season approaches.

Wilkins, who has been a part of Ocean Grove since he first started kicking the ball, was born with a bicuspid aortic valve in his heart.

This meant that instead of having three cusps in one of his valves, he had two, making it difficult for the heart to pump blood into the body’s main artery.

The only solutions to fixing the issue included either having a pig-valve replacement surgery at birth or waiting for technology to develop further down the track when the surgery became necessary for Isaac.

After tearing his ACL in December 2020, the decision to perform open heart surgery was made just in case Wilkins ever needed surgery for future injuries in which anaesthesia was involved.

Due to his heart condition, there was an increased risk of not waking up during surgery due to general anaesthetic, so November’s open-heart surgery has now diminished that possibility as a result.

“Doing my knee was probably a blessing in disguise,” Wilkins said.

The first month post-operation for the 24-year-old saw him do nothing exercise-wise, he was even limited to 10 minutes of walking per day and encouraged to nap each afternoon.

After the first month, Wilkins was then permitted to engage in light exercises without any weight over five kilograms for three months.

Move forward to February 28, almost four months from the day Wilkins went into surgery, and he was back on the track training with the rest of the seniors cohort.

“It was good to get back out there,” Wilkins said.

“I had rung head coach Pete Davey the day before to let him know I would be back out there and then once I got there, he told the group I was back, and I received a few handshakes and ‘welcome backs’ and then we got straight into it which was good.

“We didn’t focus on me too much which I preferred, and I got back to some normality just getting my legs under me again.

“Mind you, I started blowing out after five minutes,” Wilkins laughingly added.

Wilkins will continue to train going forward but whether he plays firsts level footy this season, let alone at all in 2022, will be a call to make further down the track.

“It’s just good to get out there with the boys again, particularly on the mental health side of things,” Wilkins said.

“Last year particularly I was pretty flat being on the sidelines, but if I can ressies game or two at the start of the year, we’ll go from there but at the moment I’ve only got one ACL, so we’ll see how we go.

Bellarine Football League sides are currently engaging in practice matches before the season gets underway.

Ocean Grove host premiership favourites Torquay in Round One at Ray Menzies Oval on April 2.