Brisbane prop Corey Jensen has opened up on the uncertainty surrounding the blood clots on his lung as he targets an inspirational late-season return to action.
The sight of Jensen doing his own field work at training alongside winger Deine Mariner, who had six operations to save his right leg after developing compartment syndrome, is a huge boost to the Broncos' hopes of making a late-season charge up the ladder.
Jensen had flu symptoms in the fortnight before the round-seven Wests Tigers match but felt fit enough to play on game day despite a pain in his side. The tough 32-year-old, who also possesses a sports science degree, played the match.
On returning to Brisbane, he felt ill and was taken to hospital where it was established he had developed a pulmonary embolism - a blood clot that stops blood flow to the lung.
He described his ordeal as "a shock" and "a whirlwind" given the rare nature of the clot and the mystery around why it occurred.
"Post-game I was coughing up a bit more blood," Jensen said.
"I had a CT scan back here in Brisbane, they thought I had pneumonia and that's when they said, 'you need to get to emergency. Your lung is full of blood clots'.
"I went to emergency and the next three days I went a bit downhill quickly. I spent nine days in hospital."
Fluid was drained from his lungs and led to him losing approximately eight to 10kgs in body weight.
Jensen, who had a blood clot in his calf last year which was contact-based and different to the ones in his lung, said his condition was "really serious" and the mental side of his recovery was the toughest.
"The hardest part has been the unknown around everything. I am a sports scientist and understand the human body and how it works," he said.
"They say in a lot of these cases they don't understand why you get blood clots. Some people's bodies are more prone to clots than others. That could be my case."
Jensen, a key figure in last year's premiership win, won't be able to do contact work while he is on blood thinners over a three-month period.
He said retirement "hasn't crossed my mind at all".
"They want to make sure the clots are completely gone," he said.
"I am still training as much as I can on the field and keeping my strength and fitness up in preparation to get back.
"I plan to be back and play the last few rounds with the boys and hopefully get the all clear to play. It would be unreal to be in a position to go on a good run like we did last year and press forward for a late charge.
"That's the goal. It is a process I have to go through."
Jensen is as close to the perfect trainer and model athlete you will get in the NRL, so he has a proven track record that will assist him in his quest alongside good mate Mariner.
"To see Deine get up and be running around after the trauma he had to go through is unreal," Jensen said.
"He is doing everything he can to get back out on the field and same goes for myself."
