Australian soccer player fighting for life in US after collapsing with brain bleed

A young Brisbane soccer player living in the US in pursuit of a professional career has collapsed with a life-threatening health condition.

Blake Grove, 20, faces a lengthy recovery after suffering a brain bleed caused by a rupture to an arteriovenous malformation — which is an abnormality in the connection between a vein and artery, that he has likely had since birth.

Grove, a student of Barton College in North Carolina, collapsed in his room on August 31 after complaining of headache and nausea. His younger brother was at the home when he suffered the medical episode.

He underwent surgery but continues to suffer “bouts of pain”, according to his parents Philip Grove and Nancy Cowell, who have travelled from Brisbane to be with him.

He has also suffered clotting in his lungs and a leg, but he is not able to have blood-thinners due to his brain injury.