'Lucky man' Muamba hoping to play on
Reuters - Saturday 21 April 2012, 23:47
Fabrice Muamba hopes to play
football again after his remarkable recovery from an unexplained
cardiac arrest that struck him down on the pitch last month
despite feeling fitter than ever, the 24-year-has said.
The Bolton Wanderers midfielder shocked the football world
went he collapsed with no one around him in an English FA Cup
quarter-final at Tottenham Hotspur.
"It would be great to play football again and I hope that it
will happen," he told Britain's Sun on Sunday newspaper in his
first interview since his heart stopped working on its own for
78 minutes. "But it is even greater just to live life and love
my family. I'm a lucky man."
On Monday, two days after Italian footballer Piermario
Morosini died after a similar collapse, Muamba left hospital
just a month after the incident but doctors are puzzled by his
cardiac arrest.
"I've had lots of tests but it's still not clear exactly
what caused my collapse and perhaps we'll never know," added the
England Under-21 player, who now has a "zapper" in his chest
which could shock his heart back to normal if it reoccurs.
"It may never happen again and now I have to take each day
as it comes and appreciate every single moment of the life God
has given me as a wonderful gift."
Muamba had trained well all week before his collapse but
does remember something was not right in the minutes prior to
the incident.
"I don't even get colds very often, I've never had any
problems with my heart. I remember feeling particularly fit and
was really looking forward to the match," he said.
"I ran upfield to try to get on the end of a cross from
Martin Petrov on our left wing and as I ran back into midfield I
felt very slightly dizzy.
"It wasn't normal dizziness - it was a kind of surreal
feeling like I was running along inside someone else's body.
It's hard to explain. Then I made another burst forward and
noticed it again.... but then my vision started to go.
"I had no pain whatsoever."