Hope for Fabrice
NOW MUAMBA LOOKS LIKE WINNING HIS FIGHT FOR LIFE
THE football world breathed a collective sigh of relief last night after it emerged that Bolton midfielder Fabrice Muamba was winning his fight for life.
The hospital treating the 23year-old confirmed the player can now recognise family members and respond to their questions.
Forty-eight hours after he collapsed during an FA Cup quarterfinal tie against Tottenham at White Hart Lane — where he suffered a cardiac arrest — it is the clearest indication yet that Muamba is winning his survival battle.
A London Chest Hospital statement read: “Fabrice Muamba remains in intensive care at The London Chest Hospital. He is continuing to show signs of improvement.
“He is currently able to breathe independently without the aid of a ventilator. He has also been able to recognise family members and respond to questions appropriately.
“These are all positive signs of progress. However, his condition remains serious and our medical staff in intensive care will continue to monitor and treat him.
“His family and club would like to thank the media for continuing to respect their privacy at this time.”
The confirmation follows claims from Curtis Codrington, who says he is a friend of Muamba and is one of only 83 people followed by the player on social networking site Twitter, that he had started speaking in French and English.
The player's fiancee, Shauna Muamba, wrote on Twitter: “All your prayers are working people thank u so so much. Every prayer makes him stronger. To God be the glory.”
IT’S not merely an important issue — it’s a life or death issue.
The horrific scenes that unfolded at White Hart Lane on Saturday when Bolton midfielder Fabrice Muamba suffered a cardiac arrest during the FA Cup sixth-round tie against Tottenham left everyone in shock.
The entire football family and even those with no interest in the sport are praying that the popular player wins the biggest fight of his life.
As more positive news emerged from the London chest hospital last night — that the 23-year-old was “showing small signs of improvement”, those who have followed sport in Northern Ireland have already been introduced to the full horrors of an undiagnosed cardiac time-bomb threatening the lives of our top young sportsmen and women.
The distressing scenes in north-London resulted in nightmares being revisited in some Northern Ireland homes.
In July last year, 17-year-old Chris Mcneill ( pictured) collapsed at the Milk Cup tournament.
He was revived by medics and although he has no recollection of the incident, the A-level student can today talk about his journey along the road to recovery.
However, in 2004, Tyrone GAA captain Cormac Mcanallen died suddenly while at home of an undetected heart condition at the age of 24. The Mcanallen family set up The Cormac Trust in his memory. It promotes the provision of defibrillators in sports clubs and the Mcneill family are forever grateful that a defibrillator, skillfully used by Dr Michael Healy, saved their son’s life.
Also in 2004, 18-year-old Royal School Armagh Schools’ Cup-winning captain John Mccall, died as a result of a heart defect after collapsing during an Ireland Under- 19 Rugby World Cup fixture in Durban. In March, 2004 top Northern Ireland football referee Oliver Donnelly collapsed during a charity game in Newry and died.
And yet another captain — Dundela's Michael Goddard — died during a game at Stangmore Park in Dungannon in August, 1995, after being struck on the chest with the ball.
The Muamba tragedy brought painful memories flooding back to Cormac’s mother Bridget.
“Unfortunately, Cormac died not on the pitch but at home in the middle of the night and we did not have a defibrillator,” said Bridget.
“In fact at that stage we didn’t know what it was. It was nice to see that Fabrice Muamba was saved by the defibrillator and to see the amount of respect he was shown by both sets of players and fans.”
Chris Mcneill’s father Denis also found Saturday’s events harrowing viewing.
Christopher has a defibrillator attached to his heart and can no longer take part in contact sport.
“We found Saturday afternoon and evening distressing,” he said. “The television pictures were sensitive to what was happening but what people saw was what we saw ourselves on the pitch with Christopher.
“Christopher found it upsetting and his older sister Emma who was down for the weekend with her husband was also distressed and they had to leave the room.”
ECG testing could help reduce sudden cardiac death in young adults and that’s an argument backed by Bridget.
“They don’t think of giving ECG’S,” she added. “The ECG is the one test that can show up something. It mightn’t work every time but it might show up something like an abnormal rhythm.
“A questionnaire would also discover if if there has been a history of heart problems within a family.”
And Denis argues: “There could be 10 or 12 different reasons why a young person might collapse on a sports field.
“The level and type of screening available needs to be looked at.”
By the end of this year all current senior inter-county GAA players will have had cardiac screening.
A commercial screening company called Heartaid is now employed by the Gaelic Players' Association (GPA) to screen all the country's senior inter-county panels — it is two-thirds of the way through that process.
And the Irish Football Association are supporting a pilot project with the Department of Health to train 250 people in the game to use an automated defibrillator — 130 out of 250 have received training to date. The IFA is also seeking funding from government departments so that it can make defibrillators available at more matches — they are currently present at home and away internationals, the Milk Cup and at also at major finals. In such a health and safety era, sport is slowly but surely understanding the true value of a defibrillator.