By Robert Wainwright
July 6, 2005
All jokes aside, the recovery of the football funnyman Paul "Fatty" Vautin from a head injury suffered during the making of a television skit might rule him out for most of the season.
Brain scans have apparently cleared Vautin of long-term brain damage but the injury from what at first appeared to be a simple fall from the cabin of a truck while wearing a sumo suit has reduced the frontman to shuffling around his home with a persistent headache.
Channel Nine's management yesterday described his return as a "day-to-day" proposition, but doctors are indicating it is likely to be several weeks, if not months, before he can return to the network's rugby league coverage.
Late yesterday, Nine was still trying to settle on a replacement for this week's show in the wake of tonight's State of Origin decider.
Former stars Laurie Daley, Andrew Ettingshausen and Gordon Tallis are among those being considered.
Vautin was not well enough to speak to the media yesterday but his friend and manager, John Gibbs, said doctors had told the former international that patience was the quickest way to what they believed would be a full recovery.
"I think they called it a severe closed-head injury", he said. "The neurosurgeon has cleared him [of permanent injury] but he won't give any indication on how long things will take in terms of recovery.
"He still has headaches. Those will go eventually but he has been reduced to shuffling around [home] in the meantime. He wants to get better but the message from the doctor is to be patient.
"He is desperate to get back to work but he needs time; it's as simple as that. He hasn't given any indication to Nine about when he will be back because he doesn't know.
"The doctor says it is not uncommon with these sorts of injuries for someone to wake up one day and suddenly feel better. That's when he will know."
A spokeswoman for Channel Nine said the network was in no hurry for Vautin to return.
"It's a day-to-day check-in with Paul to see how he's going" she said.
Nice hairy armpits there Steffi! Ever heard of a razor? :lol:
