Former Turkish international footballer Ersen Martin has passed away after suffering a ruptured aorta, the vessel that carries blood from the heart to the abdomen.
The player was hospitalized at Istanbul Siyami Ersek Heart Hospital and was receiving treatment before passing away.
An aortic rupture occurs after a tear in the layers of the blood vessel’s wall, resulting from an enormous aortic aneurysm that bursts, which then inhibits blood from pumping around the body.
Martin was intubated in the hospital on March 10 and has been under the care of Koksal Haloglu, CEO of a hospital facility in Bursa, since the initial aortic rupture.
The Daily Mail reported:
An aortic aneurysm is a swelling in the aorta, the primary blood vessel that transports blood from the heart to the rest of the abdomen.
An aneurysm can usually occur when the vessel’s walls have become weaker, and cannot stretch out when a pulse of blood passes through, or cannot return to its regular position afterwards.
However the monthly costs of the facility are thought to have been very high, with outlet Fanatik claiming that the player’s family had reached out for help with covering the fees.
The publication also writes that neither the Turkish Football Federation, the Turkish Professional Footballers’ Association nor a number of the former player’s ex-team-mates offered financial support.
An article written in 2023 includes detail of an anonymous close friend who said: ‘We support as much as we can, but only up to a certain point… We expect at least his former clubs to lend a helping hand.’
A number of Martin’s former clubs have taken to social media to share their grief at the news of his passing, with Besiktas writing: ‘We have learned with deep sadness that our former football player Ersen Martin has passed away.
“May God have mercy on Ersen Martin, we offer our condolences to his family, relatives and the Turkish sports community.”
Fellow ex-club Trabzonspor offered a similar statement:
“We have learned with deep sadness the news that our former football player Ersen Martin has passed away. May God have mercy on Ersen Martin who lost his life; We offer our condolences to his family, loved ones and community.”
Though the player never featured for Galatasaray, he had an affiliation with the team’s head coach Okan Buruk from their time together in the national set-up.
Buruk had spent time with Martin at matches and chatted with him following his aortic rupture in 2022, and the club wrote:
“We have learned with deep sadness the news of the death of former national football player Ersen Martin.”
