He took his partner to a small hospital in Germersheim as he knew the head doctor. Hannes and Joscha were finally brought into the world on 20th September 2001 at a small hospital in Heidelberg. Hannes weighed 1,100 grams, Joscha 800. Both had to have an artificial anus put in. Hannes had to go into emergency surgery five times in the first month. Nevertheless, the doctors couldn’t stop an uncontrolled bleed in his abdominal region. Eventually, the doctors said that it would either stop in the next hour or Hannes would die. The bleeding stopped the following day. “I’m not a religious person, so I couldn’t pray, but in those hours there were a few calls of nature,” said his father.
Hannes said that he knows no fear - even when he leaves the penalty area and clears the ball with his right foot. Hannes said: “Only the opponents seem nervous. At school everyone wants to take a shot at the prosthesis, they think it’s cool.” The whole team, not just the D youth level, examined the potential designs that Hannes could choose from for his new sports prosthesis. “After training it hurts a bit. When I get home I take it off,” said Hannes.
As a result of graduation from D youth level to C during the summer, he had to get used to playing in a full size goal. Exuberance and fun were slowly replaced by strong levels of performance and on pitch success. Hannes’ father said: “It’s never ending.” Britta Stahl was annoyed when she heard that. “Hannes was told he had to adapt or he wouldn’t be able to take part anymore. When the coach had finished talking about press ups, he was already on the floor doing them,” said Stahl. “Hannes is a very casual guy.”
Hannes has to wear a prosthesis on his lower right leg. He shows the big scars on his stomach. Apart from that there are no other injuries, nothing to be afraid of. The family have fought against the FFTS that both children have suffered form. The family and the doctors have beaten FFTS. Jörg said “Hannes and Joscha are now totally normal boys.
Hannes and Jakob, the other goalkeeper, are in a group. The exercise: Sidestepping – jumping, right foot in front, left foot in front two minutes. Hannes struggles to jump with his right foot but that doesn’t matter – Hannes remains serious and concentrates. If we was to pick up a cut in the 109th minute, he would certainly get patched up on the touchline before returning to the pitch and leading his team to World Cup success.
Hannes said: “I find it a bit silly when other children see me for the first time and just stare at my prosthesis. But I don’t think anything else of it.” The alternative option would mean that he wouldn’t be playing in goal for C youth level team TSG Seckenheim in Mannheim, but that’s out of the question. Hannes explained: “Football is fun. End of story.”
From today, disabled footballers will be supported thanks to the assets of Sepp and Eva Herberger. One of those is Hannes Morgenthaler- a 13-year-old who has had to battle his whole life, but thanks to an artificial leg, he is able to play in goal for C youth level team TSG Seckenheim- a club in Herberger’s home town Mannheim. Hannes is an example of how football helped in small ways in 2014.
Hannes received a games console from his dad and when he plays, he either speeds through a course as Super Mario or scores spectacular overhead kicks. “I always play with Hoffenheim,” said Hannes. Some of their family friends have season tickets and he goes to the stadium five or six times a year with his dad. When he plays on the console, Oliver Baumann always plays in goal. You have to take into account that Manuel Neuer isn’t too bad either, but Hannes just rolls his eyes. “Oliver Baumann,” he said, “is one of the Top 5 in the Bundesliga.”
If Hannes’ life was a Disney film or one of his console games, then he would lend the magical powers of his sports prosthesis and Super Hannes would fly to the huge goal, wouldn’t let any goals in and TSG Seckenheim would beat Bayern in the Champions League final at the end of the season. But that’s not the case. And no one knows that better than Hannes.
The 13-year-old doesn’t miss training or a training drill. But at circuit training, they should run through hoops on the floor before running to the cone 30 metres away. Jakob, the other goalkeeper in the team, looks light on his feet. Tap, tap, tap - his small steps move rapidly in the tight circles. Hannes takes a bit longer. His right knee only has ten degrees mobility and the artificial limb supports the leg so that he has more power, but he loses mobility. On the sprint to the cone, he has to drag his right leg.
“I want to cook later,” said Hannes. He cooked for his mother on her birthday- mince with mushrooms and noodles, whilst for dessert he served blancmange. Hannes likes cooking and he loves football. “I have a lot more jumping power thanks to the artificial limb,” he said. The health insurance only paid for bathing prosthesis but the purchase of the more expensive model, whereby you can run and jump, was rejected.
The former manager of Germany had to do something about this. Sepp and Eva Herberger bequeathed that their assets should be used in helping footballers that need it. Almost two years ago, Sepp Herberger’s DFB foundation completely covered the cost of 2,000 Euros. “They paid without huge administrative expenses. It was like Christmas,” said Head of Seckenheim’s youth system Britta Stahl, who found the offer from the foundation at the time. Since then, Hannes has been stopping high balls. For him, an artificial limb is a blessing. At the start of December, he played half of a C youth level league game for the first time this season. Hannes and his teammates beat Ketsch 2-1 and Hannes only conceded one goal.
Hannes has a brother. Hannes and Joscha are identical twins. In week 18 of an extremely complicated pregnancy, Jörg Schmidt-Rohr and Claudia Morgenthaler heard the news: feto-fatal transfusion syndrome, otherwise known as FFTS. In 85-95% of all twin pregnancies, connections form between the arteries, which leads to a mutual transfusion of the blood between the twins. Extremely rarely, the blood exchange in the placenta vessels is unbalanced. The recipient twin is then considerably larger than the donor twin. Heart failure often leads to prenatal deaths. When a twin dies, the surviving twin goes on to bleed to death in 26% of cases. In 25% of cases, there is a severe brain injury. In a third of all cases, the surviving twin goes on to die within the first year of their life. You don’t have to add it up, the chances for Hannes and Joscha weren’t good.
From the day that they found out about FFTS, Jörg and Claudia fought for the lives of their children. The major blood vessels should be destroyed by laser radiation in order to balance the supply. Jörg Schmidt-Rohr said: “When this attempt failed, the doctors in Frankfurt said that the children would die.”
He took his partner to a small hospital in Germersheim as he knew the head doctor. Hannes and Joscha were finally brought into the world on 20th September 2001 at a small hospital in Heidelberg. Hannes weighed 1,100 grams, Joscha 800. Both had to have an artificial anus put in. Hannes had to go into emergency surgery five times in the first month. Nevertheless, the doctors couldn’t stop an uncontrolled bleed in his abdominal region. Eventually, the doctors said that it would either stop in the next hour or Hannes would die. The bleeding stopped the following day. “I’m not a religious person, so I couldn’t pray, but in those hours there were a few calls of nature,” said his father.
Hannes said that he knows no fear - even when he leaves the penalty area and clears the ball with his right foot. Hannes said: “Only the opponents seem nervous. At school everyone wants to take a shot at the prosthesis, they think it’s cool.” The whole team, not just the D youth level, examined the potential designs that Hannes could choose from for his new sports prosthesis. “After training it hurts a bit. When I get home I take it off,” said Hannes.
As a result of graduation from D youth level to C during the summer, he had to get used to playing in a full size goal. Exuberance and fun were slowly replaced by strong levels of performance and on pitch success. Hannes’ father said: “It’s never ending.” Britta Stahl was annoyed when she heard that. “Hannes was told he had to adapt or he wouldn’t be able to take part anymore. When the coach had finished talking about press ups, he was already on the floor doing them,” said Stahl. “Hannes is a very casual guy.”
Hannes has to wear a prosthesis on his lower right leg. He shows the big scars on his stomach. Apart from that there are no other injuries, nothing to be afraid of. The family have fought against the FFTS that both children have suffered form. The family and the doctors have beaten FFTS. Jörg said “Hannes and Joscha are now totally normal boys.
Hannes and Jakob, the other goalkeeper, are in a group. The exercise: Sidestepping – jumping, right foot in front, left foot in front two minutes. Hannes struggles to jump with his right foot but that doesn’t matter – Hannes remains serious and concentrates. If we was to pick up a cut in the 109th minute, he would certainly get patched up on the touchline before returning to the pitch and leading his team to World Cup success.
Hannes said: “I find it a bit silly when other children see me for the first time and just stare at my prosthesis. But I don’t think anything else of it.” The alternative option would mean that he wouldn’t be playing in goal for C youth level team TSG Seckenheim in Mannheim, but that’s out of the question. Hannes explained: “Football is fun. End of story.”
