Kilmarnock’s Max Strizek ‘never doubted’ his return from heart surgery

Former Livingston and Wycombe Wanderers goalkeeper Strizek, who returned to the Premiership last summer after a spell in his homeland with Jagiellonia Bialystok, revealed that his aorta, the body’s largest artery, was “a bit bigger than normal”.

“I think the margin for normal people is 40-41 millimeters is the maximum you can get,” he explained. “I got like 55 and was basically in fear of tearing up and I’d just collapse and die.

“So they just told me, listen, it’s a high risk, so you need to operate as soon as possible.”

Strizek admits it was a scary moment, but it wasn’t a complete shock.

“When I moved to Sunderland at 16, obviously we had all the medicals,” he said. “Then we got to the point where I was like 18, 19, so 10 years ago, when they actually told me, listen, you’ve got this problem, it might be in the future, you might need an operation for it.

“I wasn’t really stressed about it, so I just thought, OK, it’s something I’ve got, I’ve got to take care of myself, take care of my body, and then, 10 years later, I’m having surgery, which I never thought I’d have to deal with, but you know, life, it’s so unpredictable.”

Stryzek felt confident he was in “really good hands” when he went to London Bridge Hospital for surgery.

“I knew a doctor who was doing operations – I think he’s done 1,500 operations himself and there’s only been 3,000 in the world,” he said. “He instilled confidence in me and I just knew I was going to get back as soon as possible and everything went to plan.”

Within two days, Strizek was walking hospital corridors before he knew the streets of London as he embarked on a journey back to fitness that current manager Neil McCann described as “brave”.

It was McCann’s predecessor, Stuart Kettlewell, who described Meru as a miracle worker when he returned to training in December.

“I never had doubts, I obviously took it day by day, step by step really,” Strizek said.

“I’ve been playing football since I was seven, to be fair, so I’d say maybe I’m an athlete, I’m a professional, so my body heals naturally more than normal people.

“Obviously, in the first training session, I was really bad, let’s put it that way, but obviously it takes time. I would say maybe the drive was to come back playing football because I love it and then, obviously, I don’t know how I made it.”