Essendon defender Tayte Pears is out of intensive care after undergoing pancreas surgery on Saturday afternoon.

Club doctor Bruce Reid said the 20-year-old will spend the next six weeks recovering from his operation before possibly resuming training.
“The pancreas should be fully healed in two weeks. He’ll probably be in hospital all week. The wound itself (should take longer), they’ve cut through tendon which needs to heal,"" Doctor Reid told Bomber.tv.
“That wound is going to take six weeks to really get strong. He’s been told by the Professor that he’s not allowed to do much for six weeks, so he’s going to lose fitness.""
Doctor Reid said the young West Australian informed the club about the injury - which was sustained during a collision about two minutes into the first quarter of Friday night's game - at the 10am post-game recovery session on Saturday morning.
He was taken to Epworth Hospital and was operated on at about 3pm Sunday.
“During the game he virtually had no abdominal pain at all (following the collision). He was actually more concerned about a sore neck,"" Doctor Reid said.
""He had his pizza after the game and went home and started getting tummy pains at around one o’clock in the morning.
""He nearly called us then but was able to get to sleep at about 4am.”
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Doctor Reid said an MRI scan at hospital revealed what looked to be a tear in the pancreas.
“They needed to explore it so they opened him up,"" he said. 
""Fortunately there was no significant tear, so they drained the blood. You can’t afford to leak from your pancreas.
""The potential of a pancreas is that the secretions digest you. So they’ve got drain tubes in his tummy making sure if there’s any leakage it’s not going to digest him.""
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Doctor Reid said the injury had the potential to be one of the worst he had seen in almost 30-years as a club doctor.
“It was a big two and a half hour operation but there was no split of the pancreas, that means he’ll make a full recovery,” he said. 
“So far he’s been excellent so they’ve shifted him into a normal ward this morning.""
The club has not ruled out a return from Pears should the team play finals but says there will be no rushing him. 
South Australian fan information: Essendon players and coaches will appear at 'Breakfast with the Bombers' in Adelaide the morning after their clash with the Crows.
When: Sunday, 4th July at 8:30am (doors open at 8am).
Where: Adelaide Hilton, Victoria Square.
 
Tickets cost $50 per adult and $25 for under 15's and includes a cooked breakfast, door prize, raffles, auctions, interviews with the players, autograph and photo opportunities.
 
Numbers are limited and booking can be made by emailing Jeff at: jeff12@adam.com.au or Brad at: bradleej@adam.com.au