Fabrice muamba why

The CPR is the main thing, although oxygen certainly helps, a priority recognised in the recent British Heart Foundation television advert featuring player-turned-actor Vinnie Jones, which makes a point of ignoring the kiss of life.

I asked the foundation why it had apparently changed its stance after school generations had been taught, on dummies, to both breathe and push. So push-down CPR is now the official priority, but do not kid yourself it is not hard work — you need to make thrusts of at least 5cm downwards, repeated at a rhythm of 80 a minute. The Vinnie Jones advert features the Bee Gees' hit Staying Alive, which might be a dodgy record but is a perfect rhythmic touchstone. What was happening to Muamba at this time, according to Professor Sanjay Sharma, a cardiology specialist at St George's University Hospital, London, was "ventricular fibrillation.

Rapid chaotic electrical activity within the heart. It means the heart stops its usual pumping function; good oxygenated blood should be pumping from the left ventricle, coming back to the right, but suddenly it's not.

Which, after a short while, is not usually compatible with life. As soon as he arrived on the pitch, Deaner "could see they were doing very good CPR. They had the defib ready. Muamba was given 15 defibrillation shocks in all: two on the pitch, one in the tunnel, 12 in the ambulance.

CPR is fine, apparently, for manually persuading the body to pump oxygen around for a bit, but the heart needs to be jump-started with a joule electric shock. In total, Muamba was to take 4, joules in those 78 minutes. As he entered the tunnel, the crowd finally fell silent. According to Lawrence, there had been "a groundswell, a primal roar, chanting Fabrice's name. The Tottenham fans joined in. They chanted his name and then they started chanting, 'Come on!

But he was carried off and a kind of hush descended. According to Sharma, this is where something remarkable must have taken place, thanks to the presence of Deaner, the fan who half an hour previously had been simply watching a match with his brothers. There was a squad of medical experts and friends there already. Spurs's club doctor, Shabaaz Mughal; and paramedics Peter Fischer and Wayne Diesel, who had been so involved in the first six minutes: and Bolton physio Andy Mitchell and club doctor Jonathan Tobin, a personal friend of Muamba.

Sharma told the Observer that the decision to take Muamba to the London Chest Hospital in Bethnal Green — almost eight miles away — rather than, as had been planned, the North Middlesex, much nearer White Hart Lane, may have helped to save the footballer's life. The amazing thing is that he persuaded the ambulance to change plans: ambulancemen don't normally like to do that.

And someone has to be there 24 hours a day. So nothing I say or do with him is private. Give us some time. For six weeks Shauna attended his bedside, reading psalms and praying. It was hard going. We had his Congolese family wailing. Which is a bit sad, actually. When Fabrice was finally allowed home, the first thing he did was take a long hot shower.

Then the craziness started. Even as he began the first steps of his recuperation, Fabrice was inundated with media requests. With each new devastating milestone — confirmation by two heart specialists that he would never play professional football again, that he would need a pacemaker fitted, that he would need to take beta blockers every day, that he would have to take care when exercising — Fabrice coped by distracting himself.

On the day he flew home from the heart specialist in Belgium, he went straight to the Reebok Stadium to watch a pre-season friendly; on the day he announced his retirement from football, he began planning his wedding to Shauna. Fabrice admits that there are occasions when the incident still haunts him. Would you prefer to be dead forever, or not play football?

He also campaigns for defibrillators to be installed in supermarkets and schools around the country — and became a dad for the second time when Shauna gave birth to Matthew last June. She, meanwhile, has pursued a new career of her own. Fabrice remembers the night a year ago when he heard strange noises coming from the kitchen at 1am. I come in the kitchen and all I can see are flasks with names on. I think I might have a business here. Did the business come about from a pressure to earn money because Fabrice could no longer play?

An insurance pay out eased the blow, as did savings from his playing days, but there was a significant adjustment to be made. So it made me get really serious and have a strategy in place to make it happen. I can be nothing but proud of her. After receiving lengthy treatment on the pitch from the medical personnel, Muamba was taken to the specialist coronary care unit of a London hospital. Bolton's doctor later confirmed that the midfielder had received defibrillator shocks both on the pitch and in the ambulance, but that his heart had stopped for 78 minutes.

By March 19, Muamba's heart was beating without medication and he was able to move his limbs. A post shared by Fabrice Muamba fmuamba6. The Fabrice Muamba collapse was so terrifying that health professionals could not take any risk despite Muamba showing signs of stability. As a result, the Bolton midfielder announced his retirement from professional football on August 15, , on the basis of the recommendation from the medical team.

While Muamba was devastated because he could not play the game he loved ever again, he was fortunate for just being alive as he explained in an interview in I thank God that I am alive and I pay tribute once again to the members of the medical team who never gave up on me," Muamba had said.

It is because of these painful memories indeed that Muamba was so thankful to the medical team for rescuing the life of Eriksen. If Fabrice Muamba could do it, Christian, you can do it.