Walsh cleared for training after weeks of agony
By ROBERT DILLON
ON THE MEND: Luke Walsh looks on at Knights training yesterday.
NEWCASTLE Knights halfback Luke Walsh has been cleared to resume full training and vowed to make up for lost time after overcoming a digestive ailment that has caused him bouts of "agony" for the past month.
Walsh has undergone extensive testing, which included blood scans and a gastroscopy, because doctors were concerned that he was suffering from the symptoms of coeliac disease.
Coeliac disease is an autoimmune disorder of the small bowel and is caused by a reaction to gliadin, a gluten protein found in wheat. The only effective treatment is a lifelong gluten-free diet.
Specialists are still waiting for the results of a biopsy, but Knights doctor Peter McGeoch said that on the information available it was unlikely the 20-year-old playmaker was coeliac or would have to modify his diet.
"Sometimes you can get blood tests that are positive to coeliac disease, and in Luke's case they were borderline," he said.
"But the more diagnostic tests at this point have been negative. During the gastroscopy, it looked relatively normal.
The biopsy results should be back within a few days. It's still possible that the biopsy could show he's coeliac, but it's unlikely."
McGeoch said it was unclear why Walsh had been ill.
"He's feeling a lot better, anyway,which is great," McGeoch said. "At this stage there's still some degree of a lack of clarity ... he may have just had a bug, which is what we were postulating originally."
Walsh revealed yesterday that he initially suffered a gastric virus, followed by stomach cramps every morning for almost four weeks."I just had these pains in my stomach.
They'd probably last for about 20 minutes and it was agony," he said. "The stomach pain just wouldn't go away. It was a nightmare. "I was pretty worried, but the test results were all good, which was a massive relief."
Despite the illness, Walsh weighed in this week at 79.5 kilograms half a kilogram up on his playing weight
from last season. "It's amazing. I thought I would have lost weight, but I actually gained a little bit," he said.
Adding to Walsh's anguish, the two players who are vying for his first- grade position, rookie halfback Scott Dureau and five-eighth Chris Bailey, have been setting a cracking pace at training.
"It's been pretty disappointing, the first part of the pre-season," Walsh said. "But after Chrissy I'll be getting
stuck straight into it ... I can't wait to be back training with the boys. "It's been a bit devastating sitting here watching every session."
Walsh, who appeared in 13 top-grade games last season after the retirement of Andrew Johns, has also been recovering from off-season ankle surgery.
Meanwhile, backrower Cory Paterson was awaiting a cortisone injection in a hip-flexor problem that has troubled him at training.
He should be back in full training after the Knights' Christmas break.
New signing Cameron Ciraldo is facing surgery to shave a bone in his thumb, which will limit his involvement in training for at least a month.
