After all seemed close to loss for UFC heavyweight Shane Del Rosario, it seems that the fighter has a glimmer of hope. He’s not going down easy, and the following information from the Final Round’s Ross Finkelstein should give all of his family, friends, fans, and anyone else who cares about this young man, a glimmer of hope for his recovery.
Update re: Del Rosario: He has brain activity, off life support, squeezed mother’s hand. Long way to go, but he is alive. #SDR
— Ross Finkelstein (@rossfinkelstein) November 30, 2013
“He needs to keep fighting,” Del Rosario’s friend and teammate Erik Apple said. “None of these are definitive. However, they give us some hope.”
Brining further light to the situation was Del Rosario’s representative, Jason House.
“Doctors believe he may suffer from a rare condition called Long QT Syndrome, which is a genetic anomaly that can cause a sudden and life-threatening heart rhythm abnormality, and may result in sudden death,” House said in a statement. “Tragically, it strikes healthy, young people, and often is the first and only presentation of a heart problem.”
Del Rosario suffered sudden cardiac arrest at his home Tuesday morning, and was rushed to Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian in Newport Beach, California. There Doctors have had him in critical care, and on life support for several days. On Thursday, he underwent a procedure with Arctic Sun Temperature Management System which is designed to regulate his body temperature to the mid-90s, and it was hoped that such procedure would help stimulate his brain activity. It initially appeared to be unsuccessful, but these new signs offer hope.
Del Rosario was born and raised in Orange County, Calif. He graduated from the University of California-Irvine, before going full-time into fighting. He was 11-0 as a professional with King of the Cage, M-1 and Strikeforce before he was injured in an April 2011 car accident when he was rear-ended by a drunk driver.
During his 14-month absence Strikeforce was folded by Zuffa, and Del Rosario was one of the Strikeforce fighters retained by the company and brought to their primary MMA show, the UFC. After recovering from herniated disks Del Rosario entered the UFC in May 2012, only to lose to Stipe Miocic. He followed that up with another loss to Pat Berry.
Del Rosario was scheduled to fight at UFC 168 in Las Vegas. Last Friday the UFC announced that he could not fight Carlos Augusto Filho due to injury as he had hurt his ribs in training and would not be ready for the December 28th fight.
We at LWOS hope that Del Rosario is able to pull through and offer him nothing but the best at this time. We’re pulling for you Shane.
