Salvador Cabanas Update: Full Recovery ‘Could Take Years’

Salvador Cabañas’s recovery from the gun attack which left him with a bullet lodged in his brain ‘could take years’ according to doctors, and doubts persist over whether the Paraguay international will ever play football again.

As we reported earlier this year, Club America striker Cabañas was assaulted and shot in the head in a Mexico City bar on the 25th January, after a night out with friends and family turned sour. At the time it was touch and go as to whether or not Cabañas would even survive the attack, with the Paraguay star battling for his life in intensive care. Doctors operated on Cabañas, but decided not to remove the bullet lodged in his brain as they thought removing it would pose more risk to his life than leaving it in.

Fortunately though Cabañas pulled through his life or death struggle, to the point where he is now walking again and has even managed to do some physical exercise on an exercise bike. However, his overall wellbeing is still a cause for concern. According to doctors Cabañas is still suffering from neurological complications. “He knows who he is, but doesn’t remember what happened to him nor what he ate for breakfast,” explained neurologist Dr Ernesto Martinez Duhart, who has been caring for Cabañas since the attack. “He is disorientated, he doesn’t know what happened to him, but he knows he is a footballer, he knows he has two sons and he recognises his parents and family.”

Earlier this week the 29-year-old was transferred from the hospital he entered some 40-odd days ago to a rehabilitation centre in the residential area of Interlamos. But his recovery is, according to doctors, a long-term project. “His neurological recovery could take one, two or even three years,” Martinez summised, pretty much ending the faint hopes people in Paraguay had of their star man making it back in time for the World Cup 2010. With a bullet still lodged in his brain, whether Salvador Cabañas will even play again appears doubtful.

Meanwhile, the man wanted by police in connection with the attack remains at large. Jose Jorge Balderas was named by Mexico City police as Cabañas’ alleged aggressor in the aftermath of the attack at Mexico City’s Bar Bar nightspot, but he remains a fugitive. The manager of Bar Bar, Carlos Cazares, has been detained by Mexico State Police and faces trial for complicity in the attempted murder, while six other bar workers were released on bail.

(pic via Club America)

Club America, Mexican Primera Division, Paraguay, Salvador Cabanas