A bit of good news for Muamba: Fabrice Muamba is "showing small signs of improvement" according to a joint statement from Barts hospital and Bolton Wanderers. Associated Press is also reporting that a friend says the midfielder is speaking again. The midfielder remains in intensive care after suffering a cardiac arrest during Bolton's FA Cup sixth-round tie at Tottenham on Saturday night, but the London chest hospital said that, while he is still in a critical condition, there are small reasons to be optimistic. A Bolton statement read: "His heart is now beating without the help of medication and he is also moving his arms and his legs. "However, his long-term prognosis will remain unclear for some time. He is still critically ill and will continue to be closely monitored and treated by staff in the London chest hospital's intensive care unit." ttp://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2012/mar/19/fabrice-muamba-signs-improvement
Sky Sports News say he has been speaking in both French and English. he is also able to identify visitors. Djourou has been by to see him along with Ashley Cole.
If that's true isn't that a really huge step? I saw a video title on Youtube saying he'd passed away, not that I would ever look to Youtube a general source of truth. But this BS.com thread gave me some more hope.
I'm glad he's recovering. Seems surreal though, maybe players should be tested for congenital conditions, to prevent this happening again.
Good to hear. I have even more respect for Owen Coyle, a guy who I believe is a good manager on and off the pitch. The way he has handled it has been excellent. The FA and Premier League has made it clear that Owen Coyle has total say when it comes to Bolton returning to play however, I believe they can only put off 3 matches because the schedule only has room for that.
Thanks for the answers. I think what you're saying is kind of in line with what I thought. I was saying that, because CPR is used in more situations nowadays, basically in line with the philosophy of getting somebody to the hospital as soon as possible, that the seriousness of an arrest can vary. On the flipside, since an individual is already stabilized and monitored in a hospital condition, the decision to administer CPR or other resuscitation methods would probably indicate that an arrest is more serious? Since in a hospital there are other means that can be pursued before this step? I don't honestly know, I'm no expert. But this is just me thinking through it based on what I know of hospitals and CPR procedures and whatnot. What's your opinion on this? Hope that clarifies it a little bit. Also, that he is responsive and semi-conscious seems like a miracle. I'm so happy for him and hope that his recovery continues along so promisingly.
23 yo is way too young to pass like this. I count this as a minor miracle. He wasn't breathing and his heart wasn't beating for several minutes. Its still too early to tell but if he just walks away from this with most of his faculties still in place, I'll be ecstatic. Not to be a downer. Thats just reality. They're still trying to figure out if vital organs were affected by the oxygen depletion.
Couldn't find the article, but I was reading just this morning about how cardiac screening usually works in football -- players are all screened when they are young, then after that it's at the discretion of the club. It mentioned that Fabrice had been screened for cardiac problems 4 times so far in his career. As the news was breaking Saturday I was telling an anethesiologist friend of mine about it, and he was speculating on some things that could have caused the problem, and he said there were some for which the first sign was sudden death. Even repeated screening can't catch everything. He even mentioned one syndrome which only causes a problem when the heart muscle is strengthened beyond a certain point, as it would be in a professional athlete in superb condition.
it seems to be becoming more and more common. i think spurs had all their players screened (again?) yesterday. just in ireland, last summer a 17 year old collapsed at the milk cup and needed a defibrillator, this year alone (just 3 months) 3 gaelic games players have died of SADS, 1 in training and 2 just going about their normal life. in 2010 a 16 year old died on the pitch after collapsing with a heart attack. all this despite a very public screening campaign in the last 7-8 years and defibs being available in a lot of sports grounds. there's a whole list of young, fit and athletic people who have suddenly collapsed and died. scary stuff.
Was it the Telegraph that reported that Fabrice has had four screenings in his career? Accuracy is relative, I suppose. You can accurately rule out certain defects and than have something like this happen. But maybe this will make everyone take another look at the testing and prevention system currently in place and see if any improvements can be made.
I always thought he was exagerating! Now that he is on the mend - is Intensive Care what it used to be? Why were the likes of Asley Cole, Michael Essien visiting him uninvited? The Muamba family have asked that no non-Bolton players visit at the moment - why should they even have to ask that? What connection does Essien have - at least Cole would have known him at Arsenal. Other gripes "Spurs players demand heart checks". You don't have to demand anything, if you want additional checks go to a private cardiologist and get them! Mancini "I can't believe players only have yearly checks, in Italy checks are done every 6 months" Where is the evidence base that shows these cardiac irregularities will be identified even with more regulat checks. Manchester United have been castigated on Twitter because the club didn't make a public statement on Muamba - why the hell should they?
it's mad, i guess with how fit players are now things like this are more common if players have unknown heart defects! my god brother died because he had a heredatory heart illness which increased the size of his heart and his broher had a heart transplant in 2004! it's crazy, they just grew up normally and all of a sudden u need a transplant! i guess with muamba they had no idea and maybe with his enlarged heart through so much cardio vascular activity it couldn't cope?
WOW! is absolutely right. Thanks for that BBC link. Everyone should listen to those 2 doctors. The Wanderers doc Tobin was pure inspiration. The other random cardiologist who came from the stands was super impressive but in a more non-emotional way. (and ended up going into the ER and being one of the lead docs it seems... hello, what are the chances of that?!) He said he suspects Muamba survived because he was a super-fit 23YO whose arteries were already dilated, etc. But his heart didn't beat for over an hour! How can he still be alive??? And you know how we talk about how our lads have showed a great never-give-up spirit this year that has been the key to getting now to 3rd place? Well this blows that away. These docs & medics just never, never gave up!
Yes that's what I meant. I'm far from a medical expert but I gotta figure periodic chest compressions are nice and all, but a poor alternative to a beating heart. They said that all the 15 or so defrib shocks they gave him didn't get it beating... that didn't happen until he got to hospital I think... 78mins after he fell!!
No doubt. But it seems that sufficient blood, and thus oxygen, can still be transported to the vital organs, including the brain, via CPR. In the ref's forum, there's an interesting discussion about this, in which one of the posters seems to have a considerable amount of knowledge on this stuff. Can't recall if he says he's a medical professional or not.
It seems a bit crass to even care if he'll ever return to football, right now. Can't we just be thankful he survived and hopeful his recovery is as complete as possible?