Fabrice Muamba will celebrate his 24th birthday on Friday with the news that he could be released from hospital within one week.
The Bolton midfielder suffered a cardiac arrest in the first half of the Trotters' FA Cup clash at Tottenham last month.
It later emerged that Muamba's heart stopped beating for 78 minutes, but the former Arsenal and Birmingham star has made incredible progress since then, and last week a picture of him sitting up and smiling in his hospital bed was posted on Twitter.

Muamba is now walking, and according to The Mirror, is less than seven days away from being discharged.

'He has done some short periods of walking down the corridor he is in as part of the unit, staying in intensive care,' Bolton boss Owen Coyle said on Thursday.

'He is taking steps, talking and has that big smile which we love to see, so he is certainly progressing the right way.'


He added: 'My chairman Phil Gartside was there on Wednesday with our club doctor Jonathan Tobin, and our club chaplain Phil Mason will be there today to continue the support from the football club.

'A couple of players have been sending him messages and we are keeping in touch. It has been great to see that smile and he continues to get better
'We have to stress that he still has a long way to go, but the improvement has been remarkable and long may that continue.'

Fulham manager Martin Jol, meanwhile, believes Saturday's opponents Bolton have been galvanised by recent events involving Fabrice Muamba.

Jol believes it is no coincidence that Bolton's fortunes have improved since the incident, with the team achieving three successive league victories for the first time since December 2006.

'It has helped, especially in the first game as they wanted to do it for him,' the Dutchman said.

'That gave them motivation and they got back to winning ways, which is a mentality as well.

'That is why I think they are probably better than before.

'You saw them get out of the bottom three or bottom four as they got points on the board.

'But they still need a lot of points to be safe so I think they will scrap and fight for their life.

'Before these three wins they didn't do particularly well, not even at home.

'We had a certain style when we played them at home.