Patrik Sjöberg (56) has not had a single year. The Swedish Olympic hero became seriously ill in March. Sjöberg was admitted to the intensive care unit for one month after having pneumonia and blood poisoning.
After being discharged from hospital, a new setback came – and a new hospital stay was next. Now the 56-year-old opens up about the brutal time – which almost cost him his life.
– Our son does not feel pain
– I’m grateful I can get up. Some days it feels reasonably good, while other days it is a struggle. It has to do with the fact that I got back the bacteria that has settled in the lower back, Sjöberg tells Swedish Aftonbladet.
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– Will take a year
In April, Sjöberg shared frightening photos on social media from his hospital stay. On Instagram, he wrote about the brutal experience, where he lost weight, among other things. Sjöberg now says that it will take a year before he returns to normal.
– It will take up to a year to return. I was six hours from dying if I had not gone to the hospital in time. I was completely convinced that it was corona and that I could solve it with sleep and water. Then the body began to fail. I could not go to the toilet, I had to drag myself there and my whole body hurt.
After being discharged from hospital, Sjöberg had to receive treatment again a couple of weeks later.
“I have got the shit back, the bacteria have attacked my lower back, that is why I have had so much pain in my back,” he wrote in a message to Expressen.
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Merited
The 56-year-old is among Sweden’s biggest athletics stars of all time. He is the only high jumper with three Olympic medals, and in 1987 he set a world record with 2.42 during a competition in Stockholm.
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After his career, he wrote a book about his tough upbringing with sexual abuse from his coach and stepfather, and has been a sought-after speaker. In the autumn of 2019, he took a break after many years with alcohol problems and drug abuse, something he was open about.
WORLD CHAMPION: Patrik Sjöberg guest at Fredrik Skavlan. Photo: Kyrre Lien / NTB
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Sjöberg says he has now been without alcohol for over 600 days.
– The idea was not that I should quit forever, I do not know if it is too good either. Today, I just did not suck it.
