DubaiSpur
Ian Walker
He's awake, he's stable, he's conscious enough to Facetime with his teammates and request the game go on.
Thank fudge - thank fudging Christ for that. First priority is that he's alive, second priority is that he's okay and suffered no damage from low oxygen levels or lack of blood circulation to the brain. Both seem to be the case.
Also, thank Christ for how much top-level football has evolved in the past decade alone in terms of taking heart problems seriously. The instant response to this terrible situation is what seems to have prevented a shock turning into a tragedy - the players started CPR immediately (I think it was Kjaer), and then the medics were on hand providing CPR and defibs within a minute of it occurring. And once Christian had regained consciousness, he was in an ambulance being taken to the nearest hospital within ten minutes.
Thinking back to that awful day when Muamba went down - the CPR went on for what seemed like an hour, and as I recall, it was only the presence of a cardiologist in the crowd that allowed for some degree of controlled response and a recognition that he needed to go to the London Chest Hospital immediately, which may have prevented that situation turning into a tragedy as well.
The instant responses today from the medics and the players helped save a life. I hope they realize how heroic they are for that. And I hope football as a whole takes a moment to recognize three things - 1) top-level football implemented medical practices in response to a near-disaster that has now saved a life, and has definitely saved others - but... 2) this constant, perpetual demand from the money men for more games, more games, more travel, more exertion, will only increase the fudging risks of something like this happening again, and 3) this sort of response and awareness of cardiac issues is still only confined to the top-level - Muamba and Eriksen were saved in time, but Abdelhak Nouri wasn't, because he was playing in a youth game when he collapsed, and by the time they'd gotten his heart going again, permanent brain damage had occurred.
We almost lost our Christian today, and I hope everyone at the club keeps him and his family in their thoughts and prays for a full recovery.
But for football as a whole, this sport has only learned one of the lessons that needs to be learned to prevent near-tragedies like this. At some stage, these men and women who entertain us every weekend cannot keep playing games, running tens of kilometres every two days, three days, without risking their lives to do it. The money men need to accept that, before something happens at a lower level where this kind of response time isn't available, and a tragedy *cannot* be averted.
Thank fudge - thank fudging Christ for that. First priority is that he's alive, second priority is that he's okay and suffered no damage from low oxygen levels or lack of blood circulation to the brain. Both seem to be the case.
Also, thank Christ for how much top-level football has evolved in the past decade alone in terms of taking heart problems seriously. The instant response to this terrible situation is what seems to have prevented a shock turning into a tragedy - the players started CPR immediately (I think it was Kjaer), and then the medics were on hand providing CPR and defibs within a minute of it occurring. And once Christian had regained consciousness, he was in an ambulance being taken to the nearest hospital within ten minutes.
Thinking back to that awful day when Muamba went down - the CPR went on for what seemed like an hour, and as I recall, it was only the presence of a cardiologist in the crowd that allowed for some degree of controlled response and a recognition that he needed to go to the London Chest Hospital immediately, which may have prevented that situation turning into a tragedy as well.
The instant responses today from the medics and the players helped save a life. I hope they realize how heroic they are for that. And I hope football as a whole takes a moment to recognize three things - 1) top-level football implemented medical practices in response to a near-disaster that has now saved a life, and has definitely saved others - but... 2) this constant, perpetual demand from the money men for more games, more games, more travel, more exertion, will only increase the fudging risks of something like this happening again, and 3) this sort of response and awareness of cardiac issues is still only confined to the top-level - Muamba and Eriksen were saved in time, but Abdelhak Nouri wasn't, because he was playing in a youth game when he collapsed, and by the time they'd gotten his heart going again, permanent brain damage had occurred.
We almost lost our Christian today, and I hope everyone at the club keeps him and his family in their thoughts and prays for a full recovery.
But for football as a whole, this sport has only learned one of the lessons that needs to be learned to prevent near-tragedies like this. At some stage, these men and women who entertain us every weekend cannot keep playing games, running tens of kilometres every two days, three days, without risking their lives to do it. The money men need to accept that, before something happens at a lower level where this kind of response time isn't available, and a tragedy *cannot* be averted.
