Fabrice Muamba returning to football 10 years on from cardiac arrest on pitch

dailystar.co.uk:

Bolton Wanderers.But during a FA game at Tottenham in 2012, he collapsed on the field and suffered a cardiac arrest.The 33-year-old was miraculously brought back to life by medics at the ground, and subsequent checks showed that Muamba had an underlying genetic health issue.Ten years on, Muamba spoke about the horrendous incident- and how he feels about making a return to the game:“I’m lucky to even still be here.

Every day for the last ten years has been a blessing.“To be back on the grass, kicking a ball at Bolton Wanderers, coaching in their academy, the club I was playing for when they brought me back around, feels fitting.

I’m so happy.“My dream is to one day manage, to be the manager of Bolton and take them back to Tottenham, where I had my accident.

Wow, that would be written in the stars.”Muamba made 130 outings for Bolton and was one of the most promising young players in the Premier League - but was forced to retire at 24 years old.Having his career cut so prematurely meant that he was unable to engage with football for a long period, saying he found watching football hard to do.He explained: “Until very recently I found it very difficult to watch the warm-ups at live games or even the players coming on to the pitch because I missed the ambience of the ground and the camaraderie.”But he has been able to find out that his sons - 13-year-old Joshua, Matthew, eight, and Gabriel, five - all share the same health issue - hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a disorder where part of the heart muscle cultivates thicker - with them all tested..