Agent Tom Beattie recovers from “freak condition”

The end of the year is a busy period for agents as clubs look to build their squad for the following season.
So it seemed odd when Tom Beattie, agent of Wasps‘ Joe Carlisle and Sale‘s Josh Beaumont amongst others, didn’t answer his phone for a couple of days at the end of November. But busy he was, hanging on for his life.
The 33-year-old was struck by acute disseminated encephalomyelitis, known as ADEM. The immune mediated disease, which has an incidence rate of just eight-per -one-million people a year, produces multiple inflammatory lesions in the brain and spinal cord, particularly in the white matter.
Feeling ill on November 20, his doctor suggested it was flu so he took Paracetamol and went back to bed. Two days later he was found unconscious by his brother, former Scotland international and Bristol captain Ross.
He was taken to Charing Cross Hospital High dependence unit in a critical state with doctors unsure he would pull through but, on Thursday, he was discharged a different man having made a remarkable recovery.
“I was hanging on when my brother found me but I didn’t have much left in me. It’s a freak condition and I know I’m a very lucky boy,” he told The Rugby Paper. “I have flashbacks of going to the toilet to be sick on the 21st but I then woke on the 23rd at Charing Cross Hospital not having a clue what happened.
“I couldn’t feel anything from my trunk down, the disease paralysed me for three weeks. I had to learn to walk again with the help of the physiotherapists at the hospital but I still have tingling in my legs. They reckon I will make a full recovery because the inflammation on my nerves has gone down but they can’t be certain as of yet.
“I’ve been able to work from my bed which has kept me in a positive state of mind. I’ve always been passionate about the well-being of players but even more now. Going through this made me realise the mental toughness players need when they’re out injured. I feel much more than just an agent now.
“I will battle back and get fit so I can run the Great North Run in September even if I have to crawl around.”
You can follow Tom’s recovery on on Twitter @TomDBeattie