An England rugby international and the Rangers hero: The heart surgery inspirations for Portsmouth's Colby Bishop

The remarkable comebacks of Nick Iseikwe and Connor Goldson have been held up by Pompey head coach John Mousinho as excellent examples of triumphing over adversity after undergoing similar procedures.

Following heart surgery, Saracens Rugby Union star Iseikwe has featured three times for England and won the Premiership.

While footballer Goldson has subsequently appeared in the Premier League for Brighton and also amassed 309 appearances for Rangers, winning the Scottish Premiership.

And their ongoing sporting triumphs can serve as an inspiration for Pompey favourite Bishop.

Nick Isiekwe

It was discovered the Saracens lock had a dilated aorta in August 2022, prompting the necessity for open heart surgery - and he was back playing within four months.

Aged 24 at the time, Isiekwe was operated on by Conal Austin, a skilled cardiothoracic surgeon at Guys and St Thomas’ Hospital, London.

Hospitalised for four days, he returned to play his first Premiership match of the season against London Irish shortly before Christmas 2022.

Within two months he was named in England’s Six Nations squad and, by May 2023, was a crucial member of Saracens’ Premiership play-off winning side against Sale Sharks at Twickenham.

Isiekwe’s surgeon, Austin, told The Times in August 2023: ‘I was astonished. I tell my surgical colleagues all around the world about this. They say that to return to elite level contact sport so soon after major cardiac surgery and to represent England was unique.’

In November 2023, Isiekwe signed a new long-term deal with Saracens and, in 2023-24, made 20 appearances as they finished fourth.

Since his operation, he has featured three times for England, all arriving in their 2023 Six Nations campaign.

Capped 12 times, his most recent international outing was against Ireland in March 2023, appearing as a replacement in a 29-16 defeat at the Aviva Stadium in front of 51,700 supporters.

Connor Goldson

As a centre-half with Championship Brighton, Goldson had made 11 appearances in the 2016-17 season before diagnosed with an enlarged aorta heart valve.

A random check-up scan identified the issue in February 2017, with the then 24-year-old swiftly undergoing surgery.

Just four months later, he returned for newly-promoted Brighton’s pre-season in the summer of 2017 and would go on to feature three times in the Premier League during that campaign, including a 4-0 loss at Liverpool.

In June 2018 - a year after his comeback - he was sold to Rangers, managed by Steven Gerrard, and remained at Ibrox until this summer.

He totalled 309 appearances and 23 goals during six seasons with the Scottish giants, where he won the Premiership in 2020-21.

Now aged 31, earlier this week he left Rangers for Cypriot side Aris Limassol on a three-year deal.

Goldson told the Glasgow Times in December 2023 : ‘Basically, if I wanted to play football, I had to have it done, there were no ifs or buts.

‘I could have stopped playing right then, and it was my decision, but if I wanted to continue playing, I had to get it done. The surgeon said they had to fit a stent because it could have popped at any point.

‘Nothing else mattered and all I really cared about was whether I could play football again.’