The last thing he recalls hearing on that day during the match was his team mate, Zat Knight screaming at him to “Come back”. He tried to do as Knight was suggesting, to back-pedal and defend.
But gripped by an inexplicable severe headache, he found he couldn’t run. He felt horribly confused, his head spinning, his vision scrambled. He saw two Scott Parkers ahead of him. And then he just went down.
By the time his head hit the White Hart Lane turf, technically he was dead.
You probably still remember Fabrice Muamba.
On Saturday, March 17, 2012, during the quarter-final FA Cup match between his club, Bolton Wanderers, and Tottenham Hotspur, Fabrice Muamba suddenly collapsed on the pitch. He stopped breathing and was dead….for 78 minutes.
But he lived to tell his story, in his book, I’m Still Standing.
How come Fabrice Muamba came back from the dead, when he stopped breathing for 78 minutes? Was it a miracle? Perhaps!
But for an answer, we have to go back, more than 20 years, to the same venue, White Hart Lane, home of same Premiership club, Tottenham Hotspur.
It was on the evening of September 21, 1991, and a vicious and grudge boxing re-match between Chris Eubank, and Michael Watson was going on.
Eubank was the bad boy of boxing – proud, cocky, boastful but supremely confident and unbeatable. He was giving the game of boxing a bad name. But no one could stop him, until now.
Watson was the nice guy, well liked, equally strong. And an Arsenal supporter!
Their first fight in June of same year, 1991 had ended controversially, with victory awarded to Eubank on points. But everybody knew that Watson had been robbed of that fight.
And so, very quickly a rematch was arranged, barely three months later, to settle scores. It was a12-round fight. Watson was leading on points. And then came Round 11. With a savage punch, Watson sent Eubank reeling to the floor. There were only about 20 seconds left in the Round.
Eubank was finished, his eyes a blur. He was on his knees as he listened to the mandatory 10-counts of the Referee. Other boxers would have given up and allowed themselves to be counted out. But not Chris Eubank.
Round 12. Watson came out. And walked into a torrent of hard punches from Eubank. Then the referee stepped in and stopped the fight. The time was exactly 10:54pm. And Watson was slowly dying…..
The brutal uppercut had caused havoc in Watson's brain; and ruin spread as a giant blood clot formed during the crucial first hour after he had slipped into unconsciousness.
After repeated emergency operations Watson was locked in a coma for 40 days. It seemed he would die or, at best, remain in a persistent vegetative state. He had to learn how to talk again and, hardest of all, walk again.
Against all expectations, Muamba regained consciousness on Monday just two days after his collapse on Saturday. He recognised his fiancee, Shauna Magunda, and asked after their son Joshua.
So why was Muamba recovery from the dead, a “miracle” and Watson’s not.
Here are some critical life-saving differences (in summary).
1.When Muamba went down, it was Van Der Vaart, a player from Spurs, the opposing team, who was the first to be frantically signaling to the pitch-side medical teams for help. The entire pitch fell silent, watching and perhaps praying for him.
But Watson’s opponent, Chris Eubank, was trying to smile as people screamed in joy at him from the ringside. There was blood on his teeth. Not far from ringside, fights broke out among rival fans in sections of the 22,000 crowd.
2. When Watson slipped into coma, there was no emergency resuscitation equipment available at ringside. He was carried from the ring to a waiting, but ill-equipped, ambulance.
The first minutes after Muamba collapsed were crucial. It didn't take long for the CPR to be administered. Instantly given oxygen and professional CPR, his chances were already raised.
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3. Watson was taken to the North Middlesex hospital, arriving there at 23.22pm (almost 30 minutes since the incident). It was the wrong place. There was inadequate resuscitation equipment and no specialist head trauma staff. It wasn’t until 23.55pm when he left North Middlesex for Barts Hospital.
But Muamba continued to get luckier. Sitting in the stand that day was Spurs fan Dr Andrew Deaner, consultant cardiologist at the London Chest Hospital. He was allowed on the pitch to help. Muamba was given 15 defibrillation shocks in all.
And critically, Dr Deaner, convinced the ambulance to take Muamba to the London Chest Hospital – almost eight miles away – rather than, as had been planned, the North Middlesex, much nearer White Hart Lane. This singular, doctor’s advice may have helped to save the footballer's life.
The London Chest Hospital has teams of cardiologists, brain specialists, etc. Some had been listening to the match on the radio, and wondering whether they might get the call to readiness. They were ready, and waiting.
So, did Muamba receive a miracle and Watson did not? Or was Muamba lucky and Watson not so lucky?
Warm regards.
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Martin Udogie, a Programme Host for the Radio Nigeria Network, wrote in from Lagos.
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