Seeing Muamba collapse and get CPR right there on the field, hearing his heart stopped beating for over an hour and the Petrov news is a hard pill to swallow for many. Sports fans have many such pieces of news in the past and the future is sure to bring more.
There are however some notable successes of athletes beating the odds and illness. Being sick myself, I have followed keenly these stories and used them to encourage me from time to time. Most notable is Lance Armstrong and those 7 Tour de France victories after battling cancer. The fact that he made it back onto a bike itself is a miracle, but he used it to propel him to unparalleled success. It took a lot of heart and every sinew of all muscles especially the brain to do that.
Muhammad Ali still battles Parkinsons, as does Michael J Fox. Jonah Lomu got a second chance with a kidney transplant and even played rugby in England with the dream on donning the All Blacks jersey again.
Alonzo Mourning played for the Miami Heat, had a kidney transplant and came back to win a championship with the Heat. These are some of the stories that Fabrice and Stillian need to encourage them to recover and life a fruitful life.
Once this happens to you, the outlook of life that you have will totally change. A support group needs to be in place to help you through the difficult days and long nights. Unfortunately for us in Malaysia, our health system is geared more to combat the illness rather than help and strengthen the patient as well.
Just recently, embarrassingly an injured players in a televised match locally, had to walk out and get a cab to seek medical attention for a game related injury. Questions asked about the medical personnel on standby have NOT been sufficiently answered.
I hope and pray that it doesn't take an incident like that from the Lane to wake those responsible up. I don't think they realise its a human life at stake. What if it was their son or daughter? This scant respect for life is yet another reason why many parents are shying away for pursuing sports for their kids career.
As John Wooden said, "Don't measure yourself by what you have accomplished, but by what you should have accomplished with your ability."
