22/11/2005

Best shows slight improvement

Former Manchester United and Northern Ireland football star George Best has show a slight improvement in his condition, his doctors confirmed on Tuesday.

The 59-year-old has been taken off sedation for the first time since Friday, when he was put on a ventilator at the Cromwell Hospital, west London.

His doctor Professor Roger Williams said that although the Belfast born star was starting to show slight signs of an improvement, he was still very ill and that he could not "survive day after day without some improvement occurring".

Best's family are keeping a constant vigil at his bedside where he is currently on a ventilator.

The 59-year-old was admitted to Cromwell Hospital in west London at the beginning of October following a kidney infection. Several weeks later his condition worsened after it was revealed he was suffering internal bleeding from the bowel.

Best had a liver transplant in 2002 which was a direct result of his many years of heavy drinking.

His current condition is not thought to be directly related to his infamous struggle with alcohol addiction.

(MB/SP)

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