PRAYER FOR A BROTHER AFRICAN- FABRICE MUAMBA OF BOLTON FC OF ENGLAND

It was with shock and disbelief while watching the FA Cup match between Tottenham & Bolton at the weekend, that many of us saw you collapse on the field of play. One at first thought it was something minor, but when you didn't get up and you had to be carried away from the field, the reaction was that of fear. We heard it took doctors over 2 hours to get your heart back to work.

Why fear? It was because this won't be a first occurrence of this kind, one can still vividly remember the same thing happened to a beloved Nigerian Footballer, who loved his country so much and died in the active service of his fatherland on the field of play- Samuel Sochukwuma Okwaraji of blessed memory died on August 12, 1989 while playing for Nigeria vs. Angola at the age of 24. There had been other cases- Amir Angwe of Julius Berger, who on October 29, 1995 at the age of 29, suddenly collapsed and died on the field of play, his death was caused by heart attack, remember Marc-Vivien Foe, the 28 years old top Cameroon National team player, who collapsed while playing against Colombia on June 26, 2003 at the 2003 Fifa Confederation's Cup, he later died at the hospital. Endurance Idahor, who died at age 25, he collapsed while playing for his club-Al-Merreikh and died in the ambulance on March 6, 2010, then there was Bartholomew Opoku, age 19, who died 2 days later on March 8, 2010, he collapsed while playing for Keesben FC, was rushed to the hospital, he was said to have stabilized overnight, but was announced dead the next morning. As recent as November 13, 2011 another Nigerian- Bobsan Elejiko while playing for K.Merksen SC collapsed and died. These are just a few of the same kind of cases we could remember

The match you were playing in had to be abandoned immediately and since then many, loads of those who didn't know you before, have since been saying prayers for you.

FABRICE & SON

Though we don't know you one on one, we have encountered you severally on the field of play via the TV playing your heart out for your club. It's been anxiety galore, as the hospital still says you are in critical but stable condition. We join many of your friends and family members and fans to Pray for your quick and full recovery. We pray that you will receive the healing virtues of God and recover totally from whatever it is that caused the cardiac arrest.

We are all expectant, very hopeful and pray for your recovery. MM