Ajax star left in coma after collapsing on pitch miraculously ‘smiles’ after football is placed in his hands
Abdelhak Nouri suffered cardiac arrhythmias during a pre-season friendly for the Dutch side against Werder Bremen
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AJAX footballer Abdelhak Nouri, who suffered permanent brain damage after collapsing in a friendly, has miraculously smiled again after a ball was put in his hands.
Nouri collapsed in July on a football pitch in Austria due to cardiac arrhythmia in a pre-season friendly against Werder Bremen.
While the condition of the talented 20-year-old Dutch-Moroccan footballer was first reported as stable, Austrian doctors later reported massive brain damage after waking Nouri from an induced sleep.
After the horrific incident, Nouri was flown back to the Netherlands where he has since remained in hospital, with doctors saying he would never move, talk, eat or see again.
Abdelhak Nouri's father Mohammed said the last five months were like a rollercoaster ride between intense happiness and unbearable pain caring for his beloved son.
In a rehabilitation centre in the Southern Dutch city of Tilburg, doctors tried to discover if Abdelhak was responsive to any sign by handing him several objects.
Mohammed Nouri said: "The keyboard which was given to him, he fenced off."
Yet miraculously, when a ball was put on Abdelhak's chest, father Mohammed saw a smile on his son's face.
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He said he was touched to see that Abdelhak's bond with a football was still strong, but saddened as he realised that his son would never star again in a match.
According to the family, Abdelhak can breathe by himself and has a regular heartbeat, although the permanent brain damage has left him in a vegetative state.
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Abdelhak's oldest brother Abderrahim said: "Sometimes he reacts with a smile, sometimes by blinking his eyes.
"But when I read his favourite verse from the Quran, he started to shake. I will never forget that."
Abderrahim says the family feels strengthened by their Islamic faith, as well as by the massive support from football fans and hundreds of people from the neighbourhood from all walks of life and different religions.
Abderrahim said: "Without the faith I would really be depressive, I would have broken down."
Mohammed added: "All those people who took the effort to come to us, showed us once more how Abdelhak could connect people.
"Mayor Van der Laan [of Amsterdam] also came for a visit and said beautiful words: 'He managed in Amsterdam where I never succeeded'."
Right after the incident, hundreds of people joined together in front of the Nouri's family home to show them their support.
Some people put out a banner reading "Appie, stay strong" in front of the house, referring to the player's nickname.
Even football rivalries were temporarily forgotten as all the Eredivisie clubs sent out statements of support to a man described by all who know him as a thoroughly decent and happy person who was always smiling.
Even though the suffering is still immense for the Nouri family, father Mohammed said they try to deal with it as best they can.
Mohammed Nouri said: "In our faith you learn to accept things as a challenge. Anger is wrong in Islam."
Abderrahim added: "The bit of 'why' is in every human being. But in the end we believe that Allah loves his servants more than a father and mother of their son and daughter, or siblings among each others.
"God wants this for Abdelhak with a wisdom. We can only look until that wall, but Allah oversees everything."