Last Saturday, in a FA Cup Quarterfinal match in London between Tottenham Hotspurs and Bolton Wanderers, Bolton central midfielder Fabrice Muamba collapsed on the pitch near the end of the first half from a heart attack. The 23-year-old collapsed away from the ball, and as players and fans watched in stunned silence, referee Howard Webb directed abandonment of the match with 41 minutes played.
Fortunately for Muamba, sitting among the Spurs fans at White Hart Lane was Dr. Andrew Deaner, secretary of the Cardiology Council of the Royal Society of Medicine. Correctly assuming what he was seeing was a cardiac arrest, Dr. Deane quickly identified himself to the stewards as a cardiac specialist, and was allowed onto the pitch to supervise the resuscitation efforts on Muamba. Muamba was taken by ambulance to The London Chest Hospital, just minutes from White Hart Lane, where Dr. Deane, as it happened, has privileges.
I suppose if one is going to suffer a heart attack, doing so in a major metropolitan area, with world class hospitals, and in the clear view of tens of thousands of affluent football spectators, which include talented doctors, is as good a place as any. Muamba was recognizing visitors and asking after his family when he awoke from a coma yesterday at the hospital.
Dr. Deaner is in the brown jacket to the right in the above photo. A noble man.
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