Local Melbourne footballer Michael Pisker has made a miraculous recovery after a sickening collision that saw him placed in a coma for more than two weeks.
The St Kevin’s Old Boys premiership player will never play footy again, but just being alive today is all the consolation he needs.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Local footballer on road to recovery after horrific eye injury.
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“I’m going to be honest, I feared the worst,” Michael’s mother, Alexandra Pisker, told 7NEWS.
Pisker was courageously running back with the flight of the ball during his side’s VAFA clash with Melbourne University Blues in wet and slippery conditions on July 27 when his face collided with an opposition player’s legs.
The game was stopped and club medical staff rushed out to him while they waited for paramedics to arrive.
“(I remember) nothing, which is probably a good thing,” Pisker told 7NEWS.
Three months later, he is still working to restore his balance, he is blind in one eye, and he has no sense of smell.
But he’s still feeling fortunate just to be here.
“I can walk around. I can speak fine. I feel very, very, very lucky,” he said.
The hit instantly ended his footy career, but his name will remain at the club, with an award now named in his honour.
From 2024 onwards, SKOB’s most courageous player of each year will win the Michael Pisker award.
”(I’m) overwhelmed and (it’s) very significant to me,” Michael told 7NEWS.
”Although I won’t be playing for the club, it’s nice to know my name will be around the club.”
Pat Mount from St Kevin’s Old Boys said the award is fitting.
”I think it’s testament to the esteem that Michael’s held in,” he told 7NEWS.
After 17 harrowing days in a coma, Pisker finally woke up, to the relief of his family and friends.
”I felt so elated,” his mother said of the moment he woke up.
”I just wanted to shout it out to the world that my son was OK.”
Michael added: ”Waking up and speaking to mum and seeing she was stressed and a bit distraught made me sad.”
A GoFundMe page was set up to raise funds for the footballer’s medical bills as he fought for life in hospital.
Donations from around the VAFA competition, rival leagues and the wider community flooded in to support him.