‘Like someone was sticking needles in my head’ – France forward suffers cardiac arrest after taking snus
Racing 92 Hassane Kolingar (middle) in action for France.
France prop Hassane Kolingar has revealed that he suffered a cardiac arrest while at the wedding of Racing 92 team-mate Ibrahim Diallo.
The 26-year-old, who has earned three caps for Les Bleus, made his return to action in late December after fearing that his career may be over.
Kolingar suffered the incredibly scary incident in the summer after taking snus, a tobacco product placed behind the upper lip which enables nicotine to be absorbed.
‘Seeing stars’
“When I got there [to the wedding], I stuck a snus against my gum and sat down while waiting for the bride and groom,” the France prop told Midi Olympique.
“It’s not illegal – there’s tobacco in it but it’s real s***, I think. At one point, I burst out laughing and immediately felt pressure in my chest. My heart was beating really hard and I was sweating a lot; seeing stars.
“I thought I was just having a hypoglycaemic episode and, so I would not ruin the ceremony, I moved aside. My eardrums were banging, I felt like someone was sticking needles in my head.
“I was in pain, really bad pain and my eyes were rolling back. I was going into cardiac arrest.”
Kolingar has been at Racing for the entirety of his professional career after making his debut in 2019. He has become a key player for the Parisians and started the majority of their games last season.
However, the front-rower did not appear this season until the Top 14 clash with Lyon on December 29 after undergoing an operation to clean a scar on his heart which had been there since childhood.
Another cardiac arrest
“It was a tachycardia (increased heart rate) incident, basically,” Kolingar said. “Because my pulse wouldn’t go down, the firefighters put me into a coma. To wake me up, they shocked me four times.
“The purpose of the operation was to clean the scar I had on my heart since birth. To do that, [the surgeon] had to trigger a new cardiac arrest.”
Kolingar lasted 54 minutes in his first game back in the 25-25 draw against Lyon last month before also taking the number one jersey for the trip to Toulon on Saturday.
Once again, the prop managed almost an hour until he was replaced with the hosts leading 31-17 at the Stade Mayol. Nolann le Garrec then touched down after Kolingar’s departure to give the visitors hope but Toulon ended up claiming a 36-24 triumph.