Jean-Pierre Adams might still be in coma but he deserves love, compassion and care. He played football with his life and served the French nation.
The Senegalese born defender was a man with life and hope. But a mistake led him to coma. He has been on life support for more than 37 years.
He has been fighting the battle of his life for over three decades. He deserves to be celebrated even on the sick bed. He will surely conquer.
A lot of people see players of African descent donning the colours of France but they don't really understand the genenis of the process. This journey was started by Franco-Senegalese footballer Jean-Pierre Adams who is currently in a sorry state. The legend is incapable of nearly all voluntary movement but can digest food as well as open and close his eyes. May God help this fighter. Amen.
France won the 1998 FIFA World Cup with players of African descent like Marcel Desailly, Patrick Vieira, Zinedine Zidane, Christian Karembu and so on. Till date players like N'golo Kante, Kylian Mbappe, Paul Pogba, Abou Diaby and Patrice Evra have done well to defend the colours of Les Blues.
Jean-Pierre Adams was born on 10th March, 1948. He was was a “flamboyant” character and central defender who moved to France with his grandmother when he was only ten-years old. He has been in a coma since 17th March, 1982. This was as a result of a medical inpetitude following an operation handled by a trainee at Lyon Hospital.
The jovial football who lived life to the fullest is happily to Bernadette. The Union is blessed with Laurent (born 1969) and Frédéric (1976), who both have children of their own making Jean-Pierre Adams a grandfather in coma.
Jean Pierre-Adams started his career as a second striker for the youth teams of US Cepoy, CD Bellegarde and USM Montargis.
He then joined semi-professional RC Fontainebleau in 1967 when he was aged just 19; quickly persuaded into dropping back into defence by the coaches, he helped the club win the Championnat de France Amateur (4th division) twice before signing professional terms with Ligue 1 club, Nimes Olympique, in 1970.
During his three years stint with the club he helped his side to a best-ever 2nd place as they secured UEFA Cup football for the following year with 21 wins, 76 goals and a goal-difference of +39.
Between 1973 and 1977 he played for Nice, again in Ligue 1, during a phase of ambition for the club – having been relegated from the top-division in the 1968-69 season with a measly 21 points, they were out to prove a point and nearly succeeded in bringing Jairzinho to the club.
In the 1976-77 season would prove to be his best ever with Nice running Saint-Etienne close but eventually finished 2nd in the league with their failure to claim the title put down, in large parts, to an onslaught of injuries across the team – unfortunately, though, Adams was to be slain at this peak as during the season he was one of those to suffer from such issues and his time at the club came was to draw to an unfortunate close.
Adams got a well deserved call-up to the France Football’s team in the 1975-76 season and after his first game for Les Bleus, ex-France manager Henri Michel called him a ‘force of nature, very strong physically, who had great determination and willingness.’ The energetic football earned 22 caps for France.
After an illustrious career, Adams decided to have a crack at coaching. On March 17, 1982, he travelled to Dijon for three days of studying and training. However, he suffered a cruel fate and damaged a tendon in his leg.
After the setback, the Franco-Senegalese decided to correct the knee problem through surgery following assurance from a doctor at Lyon hospital. An appointment was booked, but on that fateful day, there as a strike by doctors and nurses.
Not being an emergency, Adams, aged 34, should have returned but he was given an anaesthetic. This was to numb him for the procedure for a few hours but rather Adams slipped into an eternal coma when the anaesthetist made a mistake which starved the footballer's brain of oxygen.
Since a strike was in effect, it emerged the anaesthetist was overseeing eight operations at once. Compounding the issue, a trainee also put Adams in a wrong bed.
His wife, Bernadette like a strong woman stayed true to her husband and had hoped he would regain consciousness. But Adams remained like that. She tenders and cater for Adams washing and dressing him. According to Bernadette, Adams feels, smells, hears, jumps when a dog barks. But he cannot see.
Support came from Nîmes and PSG, both offering $15,000) while the French football federation gave her F6,000 per week after an initial contribution of F25,000 in December 1982.
In addition, Adams’s former clubs played charity matches. The Variétés Club de France, a charitable organisation still running today and backed by Platini, Zinedine Zidane and Jean-Pierre Papin, played a fixture in the comatose player’s honour against a group of his footballing friends.
After seven years, the Seventh Chamber of Correctional Tribunal in Lyon found the doctors guilty of involuntary injury. The anaesthetist and trainee were given a one-month suspended sentence and a fine that translates to $815.
The last words of Jean-Pierre Adams before his operation to his wife, “All is well, I’m in great shape. It is at 11H that I will be operated. Think of me anyway, but pick me up in a week, and do not forget then, a pair of crutches!”
Today, March 10th 2020 is his 72nd birthday. Don't forget to wish him well on his day.
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