A year prior to collapsing and passing away on the field, Ghanaian former striker Raphael Dwamena made the independent decision to have his defibrillator removed, according to his cardiologist.
The 28-year-old, who played for Levante and Zaragoza in Spain, passed unexpectedly on Saturday following an incident in which he went down while representing KF Egnatia versus Partizani in an Albanian league match.
In the match’s 24th minute, he was struck by lightning and needed emergency medical attention, but he was not able to recover.
Since then, Dwamena’s cardiologist, Dr. Antonio Asso, has spoken out about the player’s cardiac condition. He claims that the player had a “serious ventricular arrhythmia” and that he had a defibrillator implanted before deciding to have it removed on a “personal decision.”
‘He died as a result of a respectable personal decision,’ said Asso, as per Spanish outlet Sport. ‘But if the defibrillator had not been explanted, Raphael would still be alive.’
Speaking of the player’s initial discovery of a heart problem, he explained how he advised the player to quit professional football and how the defibrillator had saved his life on one occasion.
‘We managed to convince him of the imperative need to implant a defibrillator to at least guarantee his life, at the same time that we advised against practicing professional sports,’ he added.
‘A couple of years ago they told me that the defibrillator had saved his life when he had a malignant arrhythmia that had been correctly treated automatically by the device. We had subsequently lost contact.
‘From that moment on, I was aware that one day the tragedy that occurred on Saturday on a soccer field in Albania would happen.’
He spoke to Dwamena as a “great and noble boy” and declared that he had “ended hope of influencing him” but was “determined to follow his professional career.”
Dwamena, who leads the Albanian Super League in goals scored this season with nine, played eight games for Ghana, netting two goals.
Before being loaned out to Zaragoza, where he played in 2019–20, he signed with Levante in 2018 and played for them for one season. Throughout his career, he also lived briefly in Denmark, Spain, and Switzerland.
“The Ghana Football Association is sad to hear of the death of our former player Raphael Dwamena and wish to express our deepest condolences to his family at this difficult moment,” said an official statement from the organisation following his passing.
