Republic of Ireland and Newcastle goalkeeper Shay Given has admitted he had a lucky escape after suffering an horrific bowel injury in a collision with West Ham striker Marlon Harewood.
The 30-year-old was rushed to hospital and underwent emergency surgery after being left in agony following the incident in his side's 2-0 Premiership victory at Upton Park on September 17th.
However, Given admits he does not want to think about what might have happened had the extent of the damage not become clear until he was on the plane flying back to the north-east with his team-mates.
He said: "That would have been pretty scary. I do not know what would have happened if I had been in the air. I suppose it would have been 10 times worse.
"Luckily enough, it did happen while I was still on the ground. It could have been a lot worse had I been up in the sky.
"You do not want it to happen, but I suppose I was lucky in the sense that it happened where it did."
Given was carried off on a stretcher after undergoing extensive treatment on the pitch, but was hoping the injury might be little more than a serious winding or at worst, a fractured rib.
However, after showering, he was left screaming in agony, prompting club doctor Roddy MacDonald and his Hammers counterpart to call an ambulance.
Given told the Newcastle World section of the club's official website, www.nufc.co.uk: "I felt a lot of pain as soon as he (Harewood) hit me. I was very badly winded and I was struggling to breath, to be honest.
"But eventually I was stretchered off and thought it was easing. I got my breath back a little bit and felt it was just a very bad knock and I was winded.
"I had a shower and when I got out, I got hit by pain I have never felt before in my life in my lower abdomen.
"It is hard to explain how that pain was, but I passed out for nine or 10 seconds, probably from my body shutting down.
"The surgeon said it was like someone pouring acid into your stomach, that is the sort of pain I was feeling.
"I have had injuries before, but never pain like that before, so it was pretty serious.
"I thought I maybe had a fractured rib or something alone those lines, or maybe had been really lucky and only been badly winded.
"But when I got out of the shower and started feeling cramps, and it turned from cramps to excruciating pain in the space of two or three seconds, then I knew there was obviously something a lot more serious involved. I just wanted to try to get the pain away. I was screaming and shouting at the doctor to give me something to try to take the pain away."
Even scans at the hospital failed to identify the problem, and it was not until the surgeon operated that he discover a one centimetre tear in Given's bowel.
The Irishman spent a week in hospital, but is now back on Tyneside and, although he could be out for a further five weeks or so, manager Glenn Roeder is confident he will bounce back quickly.
Roeder said: "Shay is fortunate because he is such a tough person, and we saw that more or less straight after the initial shock of the incident at West Ham.
"He has been back to see everybody and I did not notice any difference between how he acted before the injury and how he is acting now.
"He is strong mentally and physically and I am sure he will be back going for those brave challenges again just as he has over the past 10 years."
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