Here's Ger O’Brien and Connor Kenna of St Pat's wearing the shirt for CRY (Cardiac Risk in the Young). Obviously Fabrice Muamba has brought heart attack awareness to the fore in almost every football league in the world. The League of Ireland is doing its bit and players will wear these CRY T-shirts before matches this week.
The event is being organised by John Doyle, an Inchicore man who had a cardiac incident last September while playing in the Leinster League.
“I was playing for St. Patrick's Athletic FC in the Leinster senior league when I collapsed last September. Our game was roughly 15 minutes in when I started to struggle breathing, I started to feel dizzy and I couldn't see properly. I got to my hunkers and signalled to the sideline of my problem and the next thing I remember is being wheeled into a ward in Tallaght hospital later that evening. It started of as a normal Sunday morning preparing for a game, having a laugh with team-mates and doing a warm up. What happened next changed my life forever.
I had never heard of the CRY unit prior to my stay in hospital but I feel I owe my life to this amazing cardiac team. On Paddy's day gone I was watching the Bolton game at home, I got a call to go to see my mother. While in my mothers I got a Facebook mail from a friend to say that Fabrice Muamba had collapsed. I immediately put on sky sports news to realise the horror of what happened. I returned home to continue watching breaking news. As a Bolton fan myself I was naturally upset but as a victim as well I could feel my heart sink. To be honest I broke down in tears as I feared the worst for the kid. I realised straight away that this was a cardiac arrest. When I heard the news that Fabrice was in fact now stable I managed to show a smile but I still knew that it was all ahead of him. I wish him all the best in his recovery.”
Nice to the League of Ireland doing its bit here.
