Football great Nathan Merritt unravels the mystery of a deadly illness that left him in a coma for a week and forced him to learn to walk again: ‘I’m lucky to be alive’

When South Sydney icon Nathan Merritt takes a tour of Accor Stadium this weekend to celebrate the NRL Indigenous Round, he will do so knowing he is extremely lucky to be alive.

Merritt was rushed to hospital and placed on life support when he was found unconscious at his aunt’s home on October 6, just a week after attending the Koori Knockout rugby league carnival.

The terrifying medical episode saw him placed in a coma at Sydney’s Royal Prince Alfred Hospital after an episode believed to have initially been triggered by an adverse reaction to prescribed painkillers.

Now the Bunnies legend has shown how far he’s come since then and revealed how close he came to dying from a debilitating double pneumonia.

Nathan Merritt is a South Sydney Rabbitohs club legend, playing 237 NRL games and scoring 154 tries – and he’s back with the club after nearly dying last year.

Merritt (pictured while receiving treatment) collapsed at his aunt’s house and was placed in a coma in hospital, where doctors discovered he was suffering from a serious case of double pneumonia.

“I’ve never heard of double pneumonia before, it’s just a really bad set of pneumonias,” Merritt told the Sydney Morning Herald.

“I was at my aunt’s house and turned around, fell unconscious and woke up a week later in hospital.

“I don’t remember anything and ended up spending about six weeks in hospital. I was on life support and in a coma for at least a week, seven days or so and the week after that I was also in and out.

“I was very dizzy for a lot of it, especially when I first woke up and all the muscles on the right side of my body had stopped as well. So I had to rebuild them and relearn how to live, how to do all these basic things.

“Learning to walk again, by the time I left hospital I could walk properly again, but it took a while, a few weeks there, to get back to normal.

“I’m lucky to be alive, that’s what the doctors told me.”

Merritt will have the honor of fielding medal winner Eric Simms for Souths’ annual clash with Parramatta at full time on Saturday.

It takes all of his energy, but he is happy to be back at the club he loves and grateful for every opportunity given to him.

“It stopped me in my tracks, that’s for sure, but I’m just grateful, grateful to be able to breathe again,” he said.

“I’m just slowly coming back to life and enjoying every day I have. Just being a father to my children is what I focus on and enjoy.

“I have five: two 19 years old, one 15 years old and two nine years old.

“The support I have received has been quite overwhelming. The hospital room was crowded most of the time when I was there. I can’t say how much I appreciate this support.

“I don’t remember the first moment I arrived, I was in a different world, but I remember the whole family with me.

“To be back at the club now and help present a medal with Eric Simms’ name on it, he is one of the greats of this club and the game. It’s a really special moment for me and I have really looking forward to it.

Merritt, pictured with current Bunnies player Jack Wighton, came to Rabbitohs training this week and will be in attendance at the Indigenous round match against Parramatta.

Merritt said doctors told him he was lucky to be alive after his scary medical incident.

Merritt will present the Eric Simms Medal to the best on the field after the Souths vs Eels match

Souths fans will be hoping Merritt’s appearance will elevate the players with the club sitting at the bottom of the NRL ladder.

And even though injured running back Cody Walker won’t play in the game, he said Merritt will certainly inspire the rest of the team.

“Hearing what happened to him and seeing him here after making a full recovery, it’s amazing,” Walker said.

“He epitomizes what Souths is all about. He’s a fighter, he was always in the game when he played, always floating around the football, he broke records at the club.

“He had the hairstyle of Ronaldo the footballer, he was just one of those players. I still remember the field goal he kicked that day at the SCG from the line of scrimmage (giving a last second victory against the Wests Tigers in 2009), just crazy plays that not many people could make.

“He’s a local junior, he grew up in Waterloo, and that’s exactly what the club is about.”