After dealing with the departure of three vital cogs since winning the Reinforced Conference title, the Cignal HD Spikers’ roster took another massive hit.
With FEU joining the second conference, Cignal were first forced to let go of Tamaraws Jude Garcia, JP Bugaoan, and Owen Suarez.
Now, Peter Torres will have to sit out the entire Open Conference. He was diagnosed with spontaneous pneumothorax – a condition caused by the collection of air in the space around the lungs – last August 15.
The product of National University had two operations. He went under the knife on August 15, then went for another procedure on August 20.
“Di naman kasi namin ineexpect na ganun mangyayari. Yun kasi yung nakita ng doctor, na kailangan ko magpahinga. Kasi ano lang dapat yun eh… Dapat magpapa-check up lang ako kasi masama pakiramdam ko eh. Feeling ko nung [una] trangkaso, so nagpa-check up ako,” explained Torres, following his squad’s straight-sets drubbing of the NCBA Wildcats.
“Pagdating doon, may problema daw yung lungs ko. Outside of the lungs, mayroon na daw air. Nahihirapan daw ako huminga, sumasama yung pakiramdam ko. So ang ginawa, inoperahan.”
With this unfortunate incident, Torres confessed that his chances of returning this conference are thinner than a thread – especially now that he had almost a two-month layoff from the sport.
Still, as much as he wants to help his brother-in-arms, Torres admitted that he would like to heal first completely before suiting up again.
“Kailangan ko daw magpahinga ng isang buwan. Parang all-in-all, ang pahinga ko na is almost two months. So mahihirapan na ako bumalik. Whatever happens, after one month, start ng training. Kung kayang humabol eh di maganda, pero kung hindi,’wag pilitin,” said Torres.
“Magpagaling muna, ako sa sarili ko gustong-gusto ko na maglaro. As in every day, yun yung iniisip ko – ‘kaya ko na ba?’ Ita-try ko ng kaunti, pero hindi pa talaga.”
