Jonathan Richter (born 16 January 1985) is a Danish disabled professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

midfielder, who played for the

Danish Superliga The Danish Superliga (, ) is a professional association football league in Denmark and the highest level of the Danish football league system. The league is currently contested by 12 teams each year, with 2 teams relegated. It is the current ...

side

FC Nordsjælland Football Club Nordsjælland, commonly known as FC Nordsjælland, Nordsjælland () or FCN, is a professional Danish association football, football team from the North Zealand town of Farum. Founded as ''Farum Boldklub'' from the merger of the to ...

. He is the son of a

Gambia The Gambia, officially the Republic of The Gambia, is a country in West Africa. Geographically, The Gambia is the List of African countries by area, smallest country in continental Africa; it is surrounded by Senegal on all sides except for ...

n father and a Danish mother and the

twin brother Twins are two offspring produced by the same pregnancy.MedicineNet > Definition of Twin Last Editorial Review: 19 June 2000 Twins can be either ''monozygotic'' ('identical'), meaning that they develop from one zygote, which splits and forms two e ...

of Simon Richter. On 20 July 2009 while playing at Hvidovre Stadion, Richter was struck by lightning which resulted in

cardiac arrest Cardiac arrest (also known as sudden cardiac arrest CA is when the heart suddenly and unexpectedly stops beating. When the heart stops beating, blood cannot properly Circulatory system, circulate around the body and the blood flow to the ...

. He was put into a medically induced

coma A coma is a deep state of prolonged unconsciousness in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to Nociception, respond normally to Pain, painful stimuli, light, or sound, lacks a normal Circadian rhythm, sleep-wake cycle and does not initiate ...

. Medical staff at

Hvidovre Hospital Hvidovre Hospital is a hospital in Hvidovre near Copenhagen in Denmark. It is administered by the Capital Region of Denmark. The hospital was built from 1968 to 1979 and was officially opened on March 26, 1976. The hospital stands out for not ...

had hoped to be able to wake Richter from the coma soon after the accident but Richter's recovery was slower than hoped. This resulted in the doctors pushing back to bring Richter out of the coma twice. Around August 1, Richter was taken out of the coma and on August 2, when doctors removed the last parts of the respirator equipment, Richter started to speak almost immediately. When club owner Allan K. Pedersen called

to check on Richter, Richter himself told doctors to tell Pedersen that everything was good. In late August 2009, Richter and his medical advisors decided to amputate Richter's lower left leg. This has, according to medical sources, dramatically improved Richter's general well-being.

retired Richter's number 26 after his forced retirement from football at the age of 24. Richter serves on the board of Danish team FC Græsrødderne, who compete in the fourth tier of the Danish football.

References

FC Nordsjælland profileOfficial Danish Superliga player statistics
at danskfodbold.com 1985 births Living people Danish people of Gambian descent Danish men's footballers FC Nordsjælland players Danish Superliga players Danish twins Injuries from lightning strikes Men's association football midfielders 21st-century Danish sportsmen {{Denmark-footy-midfielder-stub