HEART CONDITIONS IN SPORTS
JAMES TAYLOR
Ex-England batsman James Taylor recounted the day his life changed on Sunday. It was a pre-season match for Nottinghamshire County at Cambridge University in the first week of April. There had been no signs or symptoms as he had one of the best ever lead-up to his season. By 5pm, he was in hospital where he remained for 16 days after being diagnosed with Arrhythmogenic Right Ventricular Cardiomyopathy (ARVC) at the Nottingham City Hospital. Taylor was in his prime as a cricketer when his blossoming career was abruptly cut short at age 26. His one-day record was outstanding with his List batting average being the fourth of all time just behind Legendary duo Michael Bevan and AB de Villiers, and India’s Cheteshwar Pujara. This case is one of many Athletes whose careers have been cut short or interfered with by Heart Conditions.
FABRICE MUAMBA
On 17th March 2012 Fabrice Muamba was playing in an FA Cup quarter-final match against Tottenham Hotspurs. With the game tied at 1-1 Muamba recalled the last thing he heard was his teammate Zat Knight screaming at him to ‘come back’. As he was trying to get back and do his defensive work he had a severe headache and his head spun, his vision scrambled and started seeing in twos before he just went down. By the time his head hit the White Hart Lane Turf, technically he was dead. It was one of the most shocking things I have seen happen to a young player at a football field. Muamba was renowned for his fitness throughout the game and his life as a footballer had suffered a massive Cardiac Arrest.
The Bolton and Tottenham medics rushed to the field to try to resuscitate him accompanied by a leading heart specialist who lept from the crowd for over an hour. During this whole time his heart did not function. But then, in the hospital operating theatre to where he had been rapidly dispatched, the doctors tried one last thing. Under an electrical stimulus, fully 78 minutes after it stopped, his heart burst back into a beat. As inexplicably as it had stopped, it started again. He had survived one of the world’s worst scare live on TV.
He would later recover and announce his retirement at the tender age of 23 years, just about when a majority of footballer’s careers begin to rise. Fabrice recently managed to get a UEFA B coaching License and he intends to become an academy manager to help the kids through.
NWANKWO KANU
These two cases are just but recent year’s examples. There have been more with one of them being former Arsenal and Portsmouth player Nwankwo Kanu who was diagnosed with a heart condition while he was at Inter Milan and stayed out for a year after a successful heart Surgery to correct a faulty aortic valve in 1996. The former Nigerian International would then go ahead to have a successful career at Arsenal and Portsmouth winning the Premier League and the FA Cup as well as being part of the Arsenal’s Invincibles team of 2003-04.
He later had to undergo another corrective heart surgery in 2014. Kanu is currently the digital TV, Star Times Brand Ambassador in Africa. Nwankwo also has the Nwankwo Kanu heart foundation that aims at helping young Africans with Heart Conditions in Nigeria and across Africa and has already helped over 450 people.
These cases are just but a mirror of what is out there in the world of sports and how much care it ought to be given as well as the importance of quick medical response to players which has been the case as when players go down by themselves the referees mostly end up stopping the game to allow medical experts to try and save the players.
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