After suffering a cardiac arrest during a rugby game earlier this month, 12-year-old Rick Hendriks has made a full recovery and returned to school on Monday. The lock collapsed during a rugby training session at Tuine Sports Club in Pretoria earlier this month.

His rugby coach, Nico Diedericks, along with his brother AJ, immediately rushed onto the field to administer CPR on the young rugby player.

Diedericks described Hendriks as being blue in the face and having no pulse.

When he regained consciousness, Hendriks vomited and Diedericks turned him on his side.

After the life-saving efforts from the coaching staff, Hendriks was taken to the nearest hospital where it was revealed he had enlarged heart chambers which contributed to the incident.

His family and friends feared that Hendriks might have suffered from brain damage.

Thankfully, he regained consciousness the weekend after the incident and was able to communicate, much to the relief of his family.

“We can only thank God that he didn’t suffer any brain damage. That was one thing that was worrying us the most,” says Diedericks.

His school’s rugby team played a game in his honour the weekend after the horrific incident.

Hendriks was released from the hospital last week Sunday after a defibrillator was placed inside his ribcage. It will monitor his heart rate and administer a small shock in the event of his heart stopping.

Hendriks says he can’t recall what happened on the rugby field that day, but can remember all the unpleasantries of his hospital stay.

Rick’s father, Johan, is very grateful for how the doctors treated their son.

“We couldn’t have asked for better help. They did everything they could, and we will never forget what they did for us,” he says.

Although he is very happy with Rick’s recovery, Johan told Pretoria Rekord the incident has taken a toll on their family and they remain deeply concerned about him.

“We are constantly worried that something like this might happen again. You are questioning yourself over whether the defibrillator will work the way it should or not.

“It came as a major shock to us all. A boy of 12 should not be getting cardiac arrest and his whole life has changed now,” the concerned father says.