Fabrice Muamba, the Bolton Wanderers’ midfielder could be playing football again within as little as six months, says a leading expert. Discharged from London Chest Hospital just yesterday, it’s been nearly a month since Muamba collapsed on the pitch and suffered from a cardiac arrest during the quarter-final FA Cup match against Tottenham.
78 minutes after Muamba suffered the cardiac arrest, Muamba, the international former England Under-21 star’s heart started beating again. Since then, he has made a remarkable recovery.
Within just two days, Muamba had started breathing independently, responding to questions and recognising his family members. A little over a two weeks later, it emerged that Muamba had been up and about, he’d been walking around in intensive care. The news that he’d been discharged has been accompanied by smiling pictures of Muamba next to two hospital doctors that had been caring for him after his attack.
A consultant cardiologist, Dr Richard Cooke, believes that it won’t be long before the football star is seen on the pitch again. “As long as his neurological recovery is complete, there’s no reason at all why he can’t resume playing professional football. Some footballers play, despite the fact they have defibrillators, it’s likely that Muamba will be one of them.”
“As his heart had stopped for so long, it’s an amazing thing to hear that they successfully managed to keep him alive. Of course, there is the concern that he could develop brain injuries but as long as there was adequate resuscitation then he should make a complete recovery.”
“It entirely depends on the amount of recovery he’s made already, and his recovery has been surprisingly good. It’s not too farfetched to think that he’ll be able to start playing football again.” The two clubs auctioned the football shirts that had been worn during the match, raising over £22,000 for London Chest Hospital and three other charities.