Aston Villa skipper, Stilian Petrov has been diagnosed with an acute leukaemia, after suffering from a fever during a Premier League match against Arsenal.
A statement from the club has confirmed that the 32 year old midfielder suffered a fever during the match against http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Arsenal-c38429 on Saturday and the subsequent tests have confirmed the illness.
The statement read, “Stilian developed a fever following the Arsenal game last Saturday and subsequently underwent tests conducted by Dr Ian McGuinness.”
Acute Leukaemia is a bone marrow disorder which disturbs the ratio of Red Blood Cells to White Blood Cell in the body. The symptoms of the illness include tiredness, anaemia, excessive bleeding and a severe fever. At the later stages, the illness can prove
to be fatal.
The player will start receiving treatment from Monday in a London hospital.
The Bulgarian came to Aston Villa from Celtic in 2006 on a four year deal, for a transfer fee worth 6.5 million pounds. He became the captain of the side in the 2009/2010 season and guided Villa to a 6th place finish in the Premier League during
his first year, with them. In the same season, his side made it into the semi-finals of the FA Cup and finished runner-up to Manchester United in the Carling Cup.
In total, he has made 218 appearances for Aston Villa and has scored 12 goals during this period.
However, the club extended its full love and support to the player and his family in their distressed time. The chairman of Villa, Randy Lerner expressed his best wishes to the Bulgarian.
"We are completely focused on Stilian and his family. As was said in our statement, Stilian is someone who is cherished by many people throughout football”, he said.
The Aston Villa manager, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Alex-c4752 McLeish said that the player’s illness is in the preliminary stages and hoped that he will make a speedy recovery. He told the reporters that Petrov remained upbeat despite his diagnosis but was concerned about how his family
will deal with it.
“I spoke to him about half an hour ago. He's typical Stan, defiant, but I think obviously he's concerned about how it's affected his loved ones.”
The midlands side will take on http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Chelsea-c38786 at Villa Park this weekend and the manager hoped that his side will take an emotional lift from the news and will win the match for their captain.
“The players will be gutted but hopefully galvanised to win this game for their captain tomorrow," he added.
Villa are currently in the bottom half of the table at fifteenth place, having managed 33 points from their 29 matches.
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