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Even knowing there was a chance he would never fight again, Conor Quinn was still in the gym twice a day in the hope he could return to his dream.<\/b><\/p>\n
After returning home from Australia before the Covid-19 pandemic, the Belfast boxer was trying to get a licence with the British Boxing Board of Control (BBBofC) to resume his promising professional career.<\/p>\n
With two wins from his two outings as a pro, things were looking good for the 25-year-old. But his career would soon be brought to a halt.<\/p>\n
When undergoing a brain scan as part of his licence, signs of a stroke were flagged up – much to Quinn’s surprise.<\/p>\n
“There were signs of an old stroke, which I had never known about,” Quinn told BBC Sport NI.<\/p>\n
“As a young lad wanting to come home and return to my professional career, it was devastating.<\/p>\n
“They initially thought that had come from a knock to the head or a punch from boxing. When they are thinking that, they are not going to let you go and take another one.”<\/p>\n
Quinn said the news was “devastating” and medical examinations led to the discovery of a hole in his heart, which in turn had led to the unknown stroke.<\/p>\n
“It was a nightmare. Boxing is my whole life. All I want to do every day is get up and train to compete at the end of the month.<\/p>\n
“Not being able to box, I was training all the time and you were entering a gym every day not knowing if you were wasting your time or not.<\/p>\n
“We had done some investigations and we found it was coming from a hole in the heart, which I had never known that I had.<\/p>\n
“I had heart surgery to get the hole closed. It was just before Covid and thankfully it wasn’t a major surgery.<\/p>\n
“I was able to get back to training. I was told to take a couple of weeks off but five days later I was out running around the park.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n