Serious Medical Condition Could Bench Steelers' Ryan Clark
Starting Safety May Miss Denver Game Because Of Sickle Cell Trait
POSTED: 5:19 pm EDT October 27,
2009
UPDATED: 3:34 pm EST November 2,
2009
PITTSBURGH -- Steelers safety Ryan Clark practiced on Monday, as the team returned from a full week off, but coach Mike Tomlin said it hasn't been decided if Clark will play against the Broncos next Monday night in Denver.Doctors told Clark that his sickle cell trait was aggravated by Denver's high altitude and caused a serious blood disorder the last time he played there in 2007. Tomlin said Clark has an additional condition that worsened the problem.
Ryan Clark
"When you just go abruptly into an altitude in which there is markedly diminished oxygen, you can have a problem -- even with no underlying disease -- when you have sickle cell trait or sickle cell anemia. The deprivation of oxygen can be catastrophic and you can die," former Allegheny County Medical Examiner Dr. Cyril Wecht told Channel 4 Action News last week.Clark became horribly ill after the Steelers' last game in Denver on Oct. 21, 2007, and had to sit out the rest of the season. His spleen and gall bladder were removed, and he lost more than 30 pounds before finally regaining strength."What happens is the sickle cells clump together and form clots, and they block the circulation," said Wecht.Previously, Clark had said he wouldn't play in Denver again unless he was certain there would be no medical problems. When asked about it last week, he said, "We'll figure it out."Clark has undergone extensive testing during the last two years. He receives six injections a year and treats any infection carefully."I think, if I were he, in light of what happened to him a few years ago, he should not play," said Wecht. "But that's for his physicians. But I think it's a serious danger."Clark's teammate, wide receiver Santonio Holmes, said he's planning to play in the Denver game. Like Clark, Holmes also has sickle cell trait, but he does not have the additional medical condition that Clark also has.Holmes auctioned a pair of Super Bowl XLIII gloves earlier this year to raise money for Sickle Cell Disease Association of America.
Copyright 2009 by ThePittsburghChannel. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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