The key facts

  • Sonny Bill Williams underwent heart valve replacement surgery (the Ross procedure), which lasted more than four hours.
  • The congenital heart defect was discovered earlier this year during neck surgery.
  • Williams is a two-time rugby world champion (2011, 2015) and also played rugby league and boxed.

Congenital defect discovered by chance

Former New Zealand rugby center Sonny Bill Williams said in a video published on Friday that his heart was 'ready to burst' before undergoing life-saving surgery. The defect, undetected since birth, was discovered earlier this year when the 41-year-old athlete was undergoing neck surgery.

'The doctors said it was a miracle'

'Both doctors said it was a miracle,' AFP quoted Williams as saying in his YouTube video. According to him, medics said the heart was 'on the verge of bursting.' 'If I hadn't gone for the check-up, they wouldn't have known — it would have been a case of a perfectly healthy person suddenly dying,' he added.

Details of the surgery

One of Williams' surgeons, Michael O'Keeffe, said the Ross procedure to replace the valve took more than four hours. 'You were playing with a handicap you didn't know about. The fact that you were doing it shows how physically prepared you were to compensate for it,' the surgeon noted.

The athlete's career

Williams won rugby world championships in 2011 and 2015, and in 2004 he won Australia's National Rugby League (rugby league, 13 players). He retired five years ago. In addition to rugby, he competed as a professional boxer, winning nine of 11 fights.

Context

Last week, former South Africa under-20 rugby lock Hayron Andrews was found dead at the age of 31 in his team's 'Lions' hotel — the cause was a ruptured aorta, the artery that carries blood to and from the heart.