By Madhuri Dey
Nov. 10 (THAINDIAN NEWS) Ryan Clark was benched in the game on Monday night against the Broncos. The Pittsburgh Steelers safety had a near fatal moment in the game against the Denvers in Mile High City in 2007. He had both his gall bladder and spleen removed in two separate emergency operations shortly afterwords. Ryan suffers from a rare form of blood disorder that gets aggravated by extreme physical exercise in very high altitudes. The condition takes place when complications arise in the sickle cell trait, thus hindering the flow of oxygen into the spleen. It had put his health in serious jeopardy and he had been subject to extreme weight loss.

Keeping Ryan’s health hazards in mind, he was advised by many of his team mates to skip the game against the Broncos. His gall bladder and spleen had been removed in the previous operation, thus mitigating further chances of a recurring of the incident. He was also declared fit enough to play in the game, but the team mates decided that it would be a wise move to keep him out of any health risks at all. He is also down in the team’s injury report as questionable.

Although the Steelers did not announce the decision till at least 90 minutes before the game, their decision was more or less final. They had planned to substitute Clark with Tyrone Carter and Ryan Mundy. The authorities said that though Ryan would be out on the field during the team’s warm up practices, he would not be playing unless there arose an emergency.