Soccer player "Dead" for 78 minutes.

Fabrice Muamba is a soccer player who recently collapsed during a soccer match.  He suffered cardiac arrest on the field and CPR was begun immediately.  The medical staff worked on him for 48 minutes before he reached the hospital.  Resuscitation at the hospital continued for another 30 minutes until his heart began to beat independently.  This was also 15 shocks later from a defibrillator.  Fabrice is now in the ICU and has spoken his first words.  If you didn't believe in miracles or medical marvels, now is the time to think again.

This healthy and fit athlete is one of many that have suddenly collapsed during a sporting event, but his story of survival is certainly not the norm.  I assume he has hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (an enlargement of a portion of the heart) or one of several other conditions that can lead to sudden collapse.  With increased knowledge and improved response protocols, some of these athletes do survive this type of collapse.  The fact that Fabrice was shocked 15 times suggests that his heart did not necessarily stop completely for 78 minutes.  This is because the shockable rhythms are ventricular fibrillation and pulseless ventricular tachycardia.  Without getting into the details of these, they both imply that the heart is pumping irregularly and ineffectively.  They do not indicate that the heart completely stopped.  Regardless of the details and actual events that took place, the story of Fabrice Muamba is pretty amazing.

Fabrice's survival was dependent on two things: his willpower and that of the medical team.  For a team to  perform CPR and resuscitation for 78 minutes is remarkable.  Even if individuals are switching off on CPR, those of us that have done chest compressions will tell you that it is exhausting!  It is also mentally challenging to continue when the outlook for resuscitation is dismal.  At the same time, I don't believe this type of resuscitation would have been successful in most individuals.  Whether Fabrice survived due to his level of fitness or due to his willpower or simply by luck, his story is one of encouragement.

With all the bad publicity that athletes and the medical field receive these days, this is an example of why we each do what we do.  Whether you believe in modern medicine or miraculous feats of survival, there is no denying the intentions of the medical team and that of a young man who refused to give up.  I'm not sure Fabrice will ever play soccer again or what his mental capacity will be, but at least he will have the opportunity to see another day.  He may not be Kobe Bryant and the Black Mamba, but he is Fabrice Muamba...and he has the heart of a champion.