'Broken nose' turned into blood transfusions...

and round-the-clock care for Cov's Sam Pailor.

Stricken Coventry flanker Sam Pailor has revealed how what he thought was merely a broken nose ended with him hospitalised, needing multiple operations, three blood transfusions and round-the-clock care for a week.

The 24-year-old was kicked in the face during Cov’s National One win over Loughborough Students on November 16 and after being patched up on the sidelines played for nearly an hour with tampons up his nose.

At the end of the game the former Wales Under-20 even asked one of his team-mates to straighten the break and assumed nothing more was wrong.

However, a situation that seemed comical at first soon turned serious as Pailor spent the next week unable to stop or explain constant bleeding.

Even after repeated visits to A&E and consultations with specialists he was simply told to take time off his job as an electrician and allow the healing process to run its course.

But for a week his efforts to work or return to training ended as quickly as they started, with blood pouring from his nose.

And, nine days after the original injury, when he decided to recuperate at his girlfriend’s house in London, things took a sinister turn.

“I had one night where I was woken three times by physically choking on my own blood,” the Swindon-born forward said.

“I couldn’t breathe, I was gasping for air because of the blood down the back of my throat.

“Each time I had to get to the bathroom and had to wait for half-an-hour each time for the blood to stop.

“First thing in the morning I knew it wasn’t right and that I needed to go and see someone properly.

“So I went up to the Royal London Hospital – they could tell something was badly wrong.”

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