Former India goalkeeper Prasanta Dora passes away due to rare illness

Former Indian national football team goalkeeper Prasanta Dora passed away in the early hours of Tuesday. The 45-year-old was suffering from hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH), an illness that usually affects children and is rare amongst adults. He was admitted in a private hospital in Kolkata’s Rajarhat area around three months back and for the past few days his condition had deteriorated.

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Besides the rare condition mentioned above, the custodian from Bengal was also infected with the Epstein-Barr virus or EBV which further complicated his condition. This virus is one of the most common in human beings but rarely shows any adverse symptoms. However, in his case, its count in his body had increased exponentially a few days back which had in turn resulted in extremely low hemoglobin and blood platelet count.

Dora had the unusual feat of playing for all three Kolkata ‘big’ clubs. However, none of these clubs or their officials had reached out to him during his last few days. He had been working for the Reserve Bank of India post his football career and in the absence of support from elsewhere, his employers pitched in for his treatment expenditure. Besides the big 3, he also played for teams like JCT, Tollygunge Agragami and Calcutta Port Trust.