Australian fast-bowler John Hastings has revealed, on Friday (October 12), that he is suffering from a mystery lung disease that has forced him to take an indefinite break from cricket and that was one of the reasons behind his retirement from One Day Internationals and Test cricket last year.
The 32-year-old further went on to admit that his T20 cricket is almost finished with lungs problems unless he finds a way to curb a potentially fatal illness, as his life is certain to be in danger or even death if he continues to bowl, as the deadly disease is causing bleeding in his lungs every time he bowls.
The paceman also revealed that he has undergone multiple tests, but doctors are yet to determine the cause of the disease and why he continues to burst blood vessels in his lungs whenever he bowls.
With the fatal health issue, Hastings have to skip the upcoming Bing Bash League 2018, where he was set to represent the Sydney Sixers, which will get underway from December 19.
Hastings told the Australian radio station RSN on Friday, “It's something that, over probably the last three or four months, has been a really difficult period for me. It's basically every time I've been trying to gear up and get ready to bowl; I've been coughing up blood. What's happened is basically I won't be able to bowl this year or probably moving forward unless this sort of situation gets sorted out. It's just something that they can't say, 'look, you're not going to have a fatal bleed on the field' or it's not going to cause long-term damage.”
He further added about his condition, “It's pretty shattering. I've come to terms with it now, but over the last four or five months it's been a very, very tough period. I've played this game my whole life and I wanted to keep playing it. I wanted to play tournaments all around the world. That's one of the reasons I retired early from one-day and four-day cricket. To see it may be slipping away, it's pretty tough to take. At this stage, unless something miraculous happens, I won't be able to bowl.”
Meanwhile, Hastings revealed that he first experienced the symptoms several years ago, and had "little episodes maybe once a season for a year or two" but it has worsened in recent months.
Hastings signed off by saying, “Every time I'm bowling now, it's happening. It's literally just bowling. It's not running. I can do boxing weight sessions, rowing, anything like that, but as soon as the pressure [of bowling] at the crease at match intensity, when I step it up, literally I burst blood vessels in my lungs and I walk back to my mark and cough up some blood. So it's pretty scary, but they can't tell for sure it's not going to cause long-term damage. There's a lot of grey area surrounding it. It's not a very nice thing to have happened at the moment.”
(Input: Australian radio station RSN)
