Leeds United goalkeeper feared for his life amid paralysis worry following ‘terrifying’ experience

A terrifying car crash left the 19-year-old with a broken jaw that required surgical reconstruction, and fractures in his neck, so for a week after the collision football was the last thing on his mind. But a recovery that has surpassed medical expectation has allowed the Dutch youth international to return to doing what he loves and, as serendipity would have it, illness has kept two Leeds keepers at home, making Van den Heuvel the number two stopper in Spain this week.

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"I came here last Wednesday, first with the Under 21s, then straight into the camp with the first team," he said.

"Now the quality is higher, everything is more exciting for me. So far I think it's been a tough, tough good week. It's really challenging for me to train with the first team, you know, being around them is good for my experience as well. I enjoy being here."

A stock response to a routine question about a largely uneventful training camp, but Van den Heuvel has more reason than most to relish each opportunity to get out on the pitch and play.

It was another football trip, back to his native Holland with his country's Under 19s, that could so easily have cost him his career, or worse.

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"We got some time off and wanted to go out for some food, there was one staff member and three other players and we were driving on the main road on our way back to the hotel when someone tried to cross the road from a side road and we had to avoid him, so our driver steered right, otherwise we would have gone into his passenger side," said the youngster.

"It wasn't our fault. We drove into a traffic pole. It was a bad, bad crash. I was in the middle back seat, which was a bit unlucky, so I was the only one without an air bag and I was the worst injured.

"I was unconscious. After the impact I can't remember anything, then I wake up in the car, the car is smoking, beeping, there's glass everywhere and I remember my jaw was really painful, my neck felt really stiff. I was crawling out of the car myself. It was a terrifying experience, it was awful. That quick moment, when everything goes dark, when I think back about it, it is just like an empty space. For a second, or I don’t know how long it was, but yes, I definitely [feared for my life]."

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Hospitalised and then operated upon, Van den Heuvel went through a dark and painful week or two before he could allow himself to think about his job.

"To be honest, that took me about a week," he said.

"You know, the first week it was really scary. I was really emotional. It did a lot of damage. Because you're scared of what might happen when you first hear about some fractures in your neck. The first thing you think about is being paralysed. So that was the first week, but after that they said you've got zero per cent chance of getting paralysed and that's the moment when your mentality switches. It's go time, to get a good, fast recovery and try to get back out on the pitch."

The road back to football began with a five minute walk, after which Van den Heuvel needed to lie down and rest, and gradually he built up his fitness, all the while taking care over his damaged neck.

"Even after five days I started doing some indoor biking and I sent it to the medical staff [at Leeds] and everyone was so happy to see me being able to do light, light stuff with the neck collar on," he said.

"It was great for them to see as well. And I was happy to get back to training because we train every day and when something like that happens and you go to zero percent - I was in bed the whole day for like a week - it's mentally really tough. You build it up, go walking a bit more and a bit more, start doing some biking and some bodyweight squats, everything with the stabilisation of the neck. That felt really good for me."

Van den Heuvel talks so candidly for one so young on a topic so traumatic but talking has been a big part of his recovery process.

"For me, it was tough for the first two weeks but I like to speak about it because it helps me," he said.

"I spoke with the boys [from the crash] as well, they all came to visit me. We spoke about it as a group, shared our experiences with everyone who was in the car and that really helped as well. The driver was in shock, he felt a bit guilty as well, even though he couldn’t do anything about it. He felt guilty for me. I spoke to him and said listen you couldn’t do anything about it, everything is going to be okay. I have played with the boys since I was 14, that’s quite a long time, and I’ve known them even longer from camps, I even played with Ajax with some of them, and always played with them in the national team. We have got a good bond and that really helped as well."

After several weeks at home the teenager was allowed to fly back to England and when the Leeds squad returned from their Australian pre-season tour he joined up with them once again at Thorp Arch. His team-mates played their part in the recovery, too.

"I came to the meeting and met all the new guys and it was great, it was so good for me to come back with the team you know. being around the boys it really helped me as well," he said.

"They motivate you. Even people who've had long term injuries, they talk you through it as well. It really helped. I was in the gym with Forshaw, I was with Stu [Dallas]. We became gym buddies. You speak about stuff and you do stuff together in the gym, which is just focused on getting back to going out on the pitch. That is a good feeling. Not the feeling that you are all alone. That is how I felt in the car for a second. That’s why I said, when I got back into the club, you have got all the people around you, supporting you, it really helps you in your rehab."

A self-imposed social media blackout gave Van den Heuvel the time he needed to get himself right, mentally as much as anything, before letting the world in on what he had been through. Now, on the other side of it all and having played his first game well ahead of schedule, he's happy to share his remarkable story.

"They said I would be able to probably go out on the pitch after six months but now I've played my first game again after six months so that's an achievement I'm really happy with," he said.

"Being back on the pitch playing is really nice, it's really good. The thing about playing football, as soon as you get on the pitch, you don’t think about anything. Obviously the first couple of times my neck still felt a bit stiff but it doesn’t change anything, I am still doing the things I used to do, I love to do, it doesn’t change anything.

"You appreciate it more, not just football but everything. If something like this happens, you start realising how grateful you need to be for everything that happens to you. The medical staff, everyone that helped me. All the people around you, how grateful I am now to all of them. Even more now."