A Grain of Saul: Muamba on the road to recovery

It’s been just more than a week since Bolton’s Fabrice Muamba’s heart stopped beating for… It’s been just more than a week since Bolton’s Fabrice Muamba’s heart stopped beating for 78 minutes on the soccer pitch last Sunday.

Muamba, who effectively died in the 42nd minute of the Football Association Cup quarterfinal soccer match between the Bolton Wanderers and the Tottenham Hotspur, is in the early stages of a battle he’s familiar with: the battle for life.

You see, Muamba isn’t just an ordinary footballer. He didn’t grow up attending camps and clinics, playing for youth clubs and leagues. His life began in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where he fell asleep to the sound of gunfire each night.

As he saw death on his street every day, Muamba continued to practice soccer. During one of Africa’s bloodiest civil wars, there he was — kicking a little ball back and forth.

When he arrived in Heathrow, England, Muamba was a shivering 11-year-old boy who couldn’t speak any English. He was looking for his father, who had fled their home country years before to seek political asylum in England, leaving Muamba to live with his uncle, who would eventually be killed.

12 years later, 23-year-old Muamba lay facedown on the pitch. In the stands, fans cried and embraced as Muamba’s body went from seizing to lifeless. Players on both teams collapsed in prayer, covered their mouths and their eyes and held each other for comfort.

White Hart Lane, the stadium that has hosted soccer matches since 1899, fell silent.

In the crowd, one fan — Dr. Andrew Deaner, a cardiologist — couldn’t just sit and watch. After persuading a field stewardess to let him out of the stands and toward Muamba, Deaner oversaw the CPR being performed on the young athlete.

Then he got in the ambulance with Muamba and followed him to the hospital at which he worked. Deaner admitted there was little he could do with the team’s trainers and the emergency medical staff performing “very good CPR,” but he wasn’t about to let things develop without his watchful eye present.

The medical staff on hand decided to take Muamba to the London Chest Hospital, a specialty facility. The trip took 48 minutes. Once he arrived, Muamba went 30 minutes in the hospital without his heart having a muscular contraction. With no breath, no heartbeat and no response, Muamba was — by all accounts — dead.

Yet, hours later, when Muamba came out of sedation and began breathing on his own, the first thing he asked his father was, “Did we lose?”

When his dad told him that officials had stopped the game, Muamba was confused.

“Why?” he asked.

Why? Well, it’d probably have something to do with the fact that Muamba had died on the field. To continue playing wasn’t even a thought.

“Because of you,” his dad reportedly told him.

Now a week into his recovery, reports are that Muamba is improving steadily. ESPN has reported that Muamba is out of bed and eating and talking on his own. He is still in intensive care, but his condition has been upgraded to stable.

On Tuesday night, the Wanderers and Hotspur are planning to continue the game that was called in a 1-1 draw. While the two teams complete their game that was stopped short, Muamba will continue his battle off the field with the same perseverance that got him to England in the first place.

And when each player and fan offers Muamba a standing ovation during the pre-game ceremony — as teams and fans have been doing worldwide since Monday — we’ll be reminded that a game of soccer isn’t that serious after all.