Referee, 19, ‘winded’ when a football was booted into her stomach left ‘on the brink of death’

A REFEREE suffered a ruptured spleen and internal bleeding for 18 hours after a football was booted into her stomach.

Ella Squires was overseeing a match at the Norway Cup in Oslo last year when the life-changing "freak" accident occurred five minutes in.

The 19-year-old, who had been refereeing for three years, was unexpectedly hit in the stomach by a ball from a "stray pass" less than 10 yards away.

She immediately doubled over in pain but medics told the university student she had just been "badly winded".

Unable to finish the second half, Ella left the tournament and went to hospital, where doctors said she had fractured a rib.

But after collapsing on the ward, Ella was transferred to Oslo University Hospital, where scans revealed she had ruptured her spleen (a fist-sized organ in the upper left side of the abdomen, behind the left ribs) and had been internally bleeding for 18 hours.

Doctors told Ella that if she'd delayed treatment by just one more hour, she wouldn't be alive today.

Ella, who is studying sports business and coaching, said: "I was refereeing and ended up getting a football to the abdomen.

"I came off crying. I was in so much pain. I didn't know what I'd done.

"I thought I'd just been winded but the pain wasn't going away. It felt like I couldn't breathe.

"The medical tent said I've probably fractured a rib or just been badly winded. I was told to just get on with it and I'd be alright.

"I went back to where we were staying and started getting all hot and dizzy.

"I couldn't even sit up without feeling like I was going to faint."

After two trips to hospital, Ella was told she had suffered a grade-3 splenic injury alongside a massive hemoperitoneum - when blood gathers in the abdomen.

The teen received several blood transfusions and had to undergo life-saving surgery to treat her ruptured spleen.

After five nights in hospital, Ella, from Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, was discharged but unable to referee for three months while she recovered.

I was so close to death. I can't believe it happened

Ella Squires

Ella, who works part-time as a ref, said: "At the time I wasn't really with it.

"It was only after, when I had to have three blood transfers, that they said to me, 'If you had left it only another hour, you wouldn't be here'.

"That's when I realised I was close to death. I look back and think, 'I can't believe it happened', and I'm so thankful.

"I believe everything happened for a reason. It made me so much more grateful for life and take each day as it comes.

"I could've easily died that day if I'd taken the first hospital's advice and not woken up that morning."

Ella's dad and referee coach are taking part in a 11-day charity cycle ride from London to Oslo to raise money for the hospital that saved her life. Donations can be made on .