A Brondby fan who was hit in the face by a stray shot during a prematch warm-up subsequently received a medical diagnosis that may well have ended up saving his life.
David Nielsen was hit by a wayward effort from Brondby striker Kamil Wilczek before a game against Copenhagen in August.
He was taken to hospital and checked for concussion by medical staff but the X-rays ended up finding something altogether more serious. Indeed, the scans showed that Nielsen had a brain tumour that had gone completely unnoticed.
According to Ekstrabladet, Nielsen quickly underwent surgery to have the tumour removed and now has a "good chance of making a strong recovery."
Vild historie. Ramt af en bold i hovedet til #bifvff og opdagede derved tumor i hjernen #Brøndby #sldk pic.twitter.com/a8VSPREVbO
- Mikkel Davidsen (@mikkeldavidsen) September 19, 2016
Nielsen himself then posted a message on a Brondby supporters' page on Facebook, thanking the club's paramedic staff and even Wilczek for his playing part in the diagnosis.
"Hi everybody. My name is David and I'm the person who has been hit with a ball during a warm up before the match against København. I want to thank the medical personnel, security and all club employees, and also fans who were standing near me and reacted immediately, because that saved my life.
"I can't describe how grateful I'm for their effort. It turned out that I have a brain tumor and this wouldn't be discovered if Wilczek didn't hit my head with a ball, so I'm also very grateful for him for what happened."
Extraordinary. Here's wishing David the best of luck with his continued rehabilitation.