'In effect, he was dead': Doctors who saved cardiac arrest footballer Fabrice Muamba tell how they worked on him for more than an hour and shocked him 15 times to get his heart beating

• Doctors took 1hr and 18 minutes to restart Muamba's heart
• But he is now making a 'miraculous' recovery - and joking with doctors
• Bolton Wanderers Dr Jonathan Tobin describes shock of seeing 23-year-old midfielder suffer a cardiac arrest
  
• Footballer was bemused that match had been stopped when he came round
  
• First words after coming out of coma were about son Joshua, 3
  
• Fiancee Shauna Magunda on Twitter: 'All your prayers are working'
  

By Rob Cooper

Published: 11:44 EST, 21 March 2012 | Updated: 14:27 EST, 21 March 2012

Fabrice Muamba was 'effectively dead' for 78 minutes and had to be shocked 15 times before his heart restarted, a doctor revealed today.

Medics worked on the Bolton Wanderers footballer for almost an hour and a half last weekend to get it going after he suffered a cardiac arrest.

But despite being so close to death, the 23-year-old is now making a 'miraculous' recovery and joking with doctors and visitors in his hospital bed.

Scroll down to hear from the doctors who saved Fabrice

Eternal thanks: Shauna Magunda, right, Fabrice Muamba's fiancee, has kept a constant bedside vigil and has spoken out about the ordeal with his father Marcel

The footballer remains in intensive care at the London Chest Hospital after suffering a cardiac arrest during the first half of Bolton's FA Cup quarter-final against Tottenham at White Hart Lane last Saturday.

Bolton Wanderers doctor Jonathan Tobin revealed today that medics worked on Muamba for 48 minutes between his collapse and arrival at the hospital last Saturday.

Doctors then worked on him for another 30 minutes before his heart started beating again.

'In effect, he was dead in that time,' Dr Tobin said.

He admitted he broke down in tears in the hospital corridor when the seriousness of what had happened to the player hit home - and added that he had feared the worst.

Dr Tobin, who visited Muamba last night, added that he had explained to him what happened on Saturday.

Shock: Bolton manager Owen Coyle (left) walks alongside the stretcher as medical staff attend to Fabrice Muamba. Leading the way, right, is Tottenham fan Dr Andrew Deaner, a consultant cardiologist who came down from the stands to help resuscitate the player

'I’m glad to say that the early signs of recovery have continued. I went to see Fabrice last night. I went in and he said "Hi, doc."

'I asked him how he was and he said "Fine".'

Dr Tobin said the player had asked him what had happened, adding: 'I explained to him what had happened. That’s the sort of level of communication I have had with Fabrice.'

Ever since he was rushed to hospital his family, including his fiancée Shauna Magunda, 27, and his parents, Marcel and Gertrude, have been maintaining a constant vigil.

Speaking at the hospital in Bethnal Green, east London, he told of his reaction when he first realised the player was in trouble.

Going through his head was the thought 'Oh my God, it’s Fabrice', he said.

In the wake of Muamba's collapse, Bolton cancelled last night's match against Aston Villa, but have said their game against Blackburn on Saturday will definitely go ahead.

Muamba's father has revealed the bewildered footballer asked 'did we lose?' when he came round in his bed after being put in an artificially induced coma.

When he was told the match had been abandoned with the scores at 1-1, the footballer demanded to know why. His father Marcel said: 'Because of you'.

Romance: Fabrice Muamba proposed to his girlfriend Shauna Magunda on Valentine's Day

Happy couple: Fabrice Muamba, right, out with his fiancee Shauna who he had recently got engaged to. The couple have a three-year-old son

Muamba's very first words were about three-year-old son Joshua.

As he recovers the footballer has been visited by a host of top professionals including Chelsea's Ashley Cole, Tottenham forward Jermain Defoe and Bolton teammate Kevin Davies.

Dr Andrew Deaner, the cardiologist and Tottenham fan who leapt from his seat in the crowd and rushed on to the pitch to help Muamba, said his recovery could be described as 'miraculous'.

He said: 'If you’re going to use the term miraculous, I guess it could be used here.'

Dr Deaner went to visit the player after he had woken up and recalled that Muamba was able to make a joke even that early on into his recovery process.

'I whispered into his ear ‘What’s your name?’,' he said.

The footballer gave his name.

Dr Deaner went on: 'I said ‘I understand you’re a very good footballer’. And he said ‘I try’.'

The cardiologist said he had had tears in his eyes at witnessing that sign of the player’s sense of humour returning so soon.

He recalled how he had been watching the match with his brother when he saw Muamba collapse and doctors rush to his side.

Turning to his brother, he said: 'They’re doing CPR. I should go and help.'

His brother agreed, he said, and so the father of three sprang into action.

'Something sort of told me I should go down,' he said. 'The adrenaline starts pumping when you see a cardiac arrest.'

He added: 'Looking back, it wouldn’t have been surprising if the guys there... said ‘Go away, we don’t need anybody else’.'

But the whole response to the incident had been carried out faultlessly, he said.

'If you were going to make a film to teach people how to run a complex arrest, this would have been the arrest to film because everything went as it should,' he said.

'One thing after another just went right.'

He added: 'He’s made a remarkable recovery so far. We don’t want to get ahead of ourselves...

'As things stand, I think his life is not in danger at this time. His neurological function is looking very good but it is early days.'

Bolton Wanderer's Dr Tobin added that Muamba received two shocks on the pitch as medics battled to get his heart going.

Recalling the moment he arrived at the player’s side, as he lay face-down on the ground, he said: 'I can’t begin to explain the pressure that was there.

Happy times: Bolton Wanderers midfielder in a picture he posted on Twitter last month. He is in a critical condition today after collapsing on the pitch on Saturday

'As I was running on to the pitch, once I got there, my focus was entirely on Fabrice.

'I wasn’t aware that players had gathered around.'

The doctor said he failed to notice anything happening around him as he concentrated every effort on his patient.

'It wasn’t until 35,000 voices united to start singing Fabrice Muamba’s name that anything from the outside environment penetrated into that focus, but I heard them singing,' he said.

Asked how he felt giving mouth to mouth to the player - a personal friend - in front of thousands of spectators, Dr Tobin said: 'I was shocked but also from a personal point of view, this is Fabrice.

'This isn’t somebody that’s gone down in the street or been brought into A&E.

'This is somebody that I know, I know his family. This is somebody I consider a friend, this is somebody I joke with on a daily basis. There was also that... as I was running on to the pitch I was thinking "Oh my God, it’s Fabrice".'

Describing his collapse, he added: 'Fabrice was in a type of cardiac arrest where the heart is showing lots of electrical activity but no muscular activity.

'It’s something that often responds to drugs and shocks.

Consultant cardiologist Dr Sam Mohiddin, who has been caring for Muamba at the hospital, said it was 'extraordinary' for someone whose heart has stopped beating for as long as the player’s did to make the kind of progress he has made.

'Fabrice has continued to demonstrate positive signs of recovery and he has not only exceeded our expectations but also our hopes in the way he’s recovered,' he said.

'But this remains very early in what could be a lengthy recovery period.'

VIDEO: In effect he was dead. Doctors tell the intense tale of saving Fabrice's life