By Andrew Warshaw
March 21 – Two years after defying the odds by surviving despite his heart stopping for 78 minutes during a match, Fabrice Muamba, whose miraculous case made worldwide headlines, has revealed that he has since had a couple more murmurs though on a far more minor scale.
Last Monday marked the second anniversary of Muamba collapsing at Tottenham Hotspur’s White Hart Lane stadium while he was playing for Bolton Wanderers during an FA cup tie.
Although he is no longer playing, having retired six months after his cardiac arrest, Muamba disclosed: “I have had a couple more shocks since – but the doctors warned me it might happen. I’ve been wearing a defibrillator which has become almost as important to me as the seat belt in my car.”
Since retiring from the game, Muamba, 26, has been taking a journalism course and is also touring club academies on behalf of England’s Professional Footballers Association.
“I go round different clubs and speak to the academy lads about having a plan B and taking their education very seriously. Obviously they are there to play football but there are no guarantees. What chance, for instance, does a kid at some clubs have of breaking straight into the first team?”
Muamba, who recently spoke at a football and medicine conference in Jordan, added: “Football has been taken away from me and of course I miss it but I appreciate life more because I’ve been given a second chance. I can still see my beautiful wife and kids and appreciate all the little things far more like being able to drive again. Life goes on and I’m still young. No money in the world can repay the medical team who save my life.”
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