Petr Cech is one of a handful of sportspeople who can empathise with Ryan Mason.
The Hull City midfielder is recovering after fracturing his skull in a clash of heads during a game against Chelsea on January 22.
Petr was in a similar position just over 10 years ago when he suffered a depressed fracture while playing for Chelsea at Reading, and he wishes Mason well.
“I offered him my support because I have experience in what he’s going through, and I’m happy to share my experience if it helps him,” Petr told Arsenal Player. “The possibility to be able to offer him my experience, it was the first thing I had in my mind to do.
“I’m obviously glad that he’s back home and that he’s started his recovery process. Hopefully he will get well very soon.”
Petr hopes that the Hull player can take encouragement from his own full recovery from a serious head injury.
“When you’re in this situation, you need people around you to help,” said the Arsenal goalkeeper. “Then you have someone who has the experience and can tell you, ‘Don’t worry about this, it’s completely normal, and don’t worry about that because I went through it too’.
“It can obviously help because you have a lot of doubts, a lot of questions and nobody seems to have the answer. You can have someone who went through that and they can tell you not to worry about it, it will just take time and that you can carry on doing what you’re doing.
“You need your closest around you to help you when you don’t feel right. It’s a situation which not only involves the person who got injured, but also the people who are supporting him, the people around him like his family. Even for them it’s a challenging situation.”
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