The Swede, who spoke to WBN during a workout break, says he’s in good health despite understandably having some down days.
“I’m at the gym right now, having a quick workout, today is a good day – I’m trying to work out as much as I can. I’m trying to do whatever I can to get back physically and mentally in shape,” Skoglund exclusively told World Boxing News.
“I don’t remember anything from the day that it happened, it’s completely gone. But as I’ve been told I was in the gym sparring.
“Afterwards, I told my trainer that I felt sick and he said to try again after the weekend. He said, ‘get some rest and we’ll see you on Monday.’
Aware his situation was worse than his trainer thought, the former European champion explained his feelings.
“I said you don’t understand I really don’t feel great and then I fell on the floor, I started to shake and scream. My trainer, my brother and my girlfriend were all there – they understood something really bad was happening.
“My girlfriend called an ambulance and my brother was sitting by me holding my head when the ambulance came. It took me to the local hospital in Nyköping and had an MR scan, they saw it was a bleed inside the brain.”
The same injury that impaired Skoglund has put many boxers into early retirement and immediate attention is always needed as the condition can be very serious and life-threatening.
Skoglund revealed he was treated with utmost urgency and informed he needed to go for emergency surgery.
“They told my family that there has to be surgery and they need to do it in Stockholm. They said if we wait for another two hours I would be gone, so it was scary for them. I was involved but I wasn’t really there.”
Away on a family holiday, Skoglund’s parents flew back early to be by his bedside.
“It really was a shock for them, my parents were on holiday in Spain so they went home the day after and came to the hospital as well so it was a shock for everyone.”
Placed in an induced coma, Skoglund faced a long recovery as he explained: “It was almost two weeks. Normally, if it’s that long they do the surgery and then they wake you up but when they tried to wake me up and I wouldn’t wake,” revealed the 27 year-old.
“They put me again in the MR and they saw that there was a leak from the surgery wound so the blood came in and pushed the brain once again.
“They had to redo the surgery, so I actually had two surgeries for the same injury and then they put something in that could help the blood to leak out but it doesn’t put pressure on the brain.
“That was pretty much the issue, but after that, they decided that the pressure on my brain could be too much if they tried to wake me up again.
“They decided to let me wake slowly and naturally, they let it take time which is why I was down for more than a week.
Finally back where I belong. Thanks for all the support I really need it. Will speak more about what happened when I’m ready. ❤️ pic.twitter.com/Qwr5qzhMAv
— Erik Skoglund (@skoglund_erik) January 16, 2018
“Of course it was horrible for my family because they couldn’t tell whether I would wake up or if I was going to move again. They didn’t know if I was even going to talk again, it was that kind of a horror for everyone involved,” he added.
Chandler Waller is a staff writer for World Boxing News. Follow Chandler on Twitter @ChandlerWaller
