3 year old Drowns, Talks to Grandma, Revives 3 hours later

[PrincessSuzanne]

If it was really cold water and his body temperature was lowered to a certain level, it would possibly preserve brain function as well as prevent him from breathing. It has happened before.

Now, the part about seeing his granny, I have no idea, I guess that could be a possibility since he was unconscious.

I don't think any medical staff are going to perform CPR for 3 hours.

Suzanne

 

[lillygator]

I didn't read the article but I would think they do cpr for x time and then call TOD, was this boy alone in a room or were people still him? Hopefully he is ok and didn't suffer any lasting effects.

 

[Piglet843]

Just so everyone can read it online and not just think I made this up....

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,590566,00.html

And one with a little more information....

http://www.bild.de/BILD/news/bild-e...urs/paul-3-i-met-great-grandma-in-heaven.html

 

[Blessed99]

WOW! All I can say is God is awesome!

 

[jodifla]

Just so everyone can read it online and not just think I made this up....

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,590566,00.html

And one with a little more information....

http://www.bild.de/BILD/news/bild-e...urs/paul-3-i-met-great-grandma-in-heaven.html

The second site looks like a German National Enquirer.....

 

[Sparx]

What they said.

It's a nice story and all, but they performed CPR for 3 hours? REALLY? Is that even physically possible?

Three hours is an extremely long time to have no oxygen going to the brain. I would like to believe this story, and if it gives people hope that there is something out there, all the better, but it sounds fishy.

I was CPR certified in high school. We had to practice on dummies and part of the class I was in (first aid, aside from the certification) was to preform CPR on a dummy for "as long as we could," and after about 10-20 minutes of CPR, your arms are ready to fall off. They would have had to be switching people every ten minutes or so, and I can't imagine a hospital doing that. I mean, even EMTs and doctors stop eventually.

I just did some reading about cerebral hypoxia (loss of oxygen to the brain) and apparently first the brain cells die, then due to increased acidity in the brain, oxidants and free radicals appear. The best I can figure out, this causes the brain tissue to die in large areas. The same way loss of blood to a limb causes the limb to die. Apparently the stagnant blood in the brain (lack of oxygen) is the same as no blood at all. The only proven therapy to correct this is used in NICU units on infants who were deprived oxygen in childbirth (one of the causes of cerebral palsy), and it includes induced hypothermia. I don't know if it would work on someone much older (and larger) than an infant though. I've not come across anything while I was writing this post that said that this is used for anyone but infants.

From everything I've read, this child should experience very extreme brain damage. I'm sure there will be more to hear about this case.

Also, apparently coma patients experience lack of oxygen to the brain, so they are put on respirators, so even if he wasn't dead and just comatose, he's still likely to have suffered brain damage.

I honestly wonder if this is true, or right up there with a woman giving birth to alien baby stories.

 

[Mrs.Toad]

Amazing story!

If he's getting CPR, though, wouldn't that provide oxygen to the brain (assuming they do it in conjunction with mouth-to-mouth)? Aren't you blowing into the victims lungs to get oxygen in them, and pumping his chest to pump the blood throughout the body? Seems like an awful long time to keep up the CPR, but if they were, it seems like he'd have been getting oxygen (to my non-medically-trained mind, anyway )

 

[laurie31]

Yes, CPR is what's keeping the brain alive. It takes about 4-6 minutes WITHOUT CPR for brain cells to start to die. That's why it's so important for bystanders to start CPR on the scene.

My take on reading the original article was that the boy was in an ICU being aggressively resuscitated, and let me tell you they can and do resuscitate people for hours. I was in one that lasted 5 hours once. (and no...the patient didn't survive. Usually they don't. That's what makes this one news.)

I've seen this type of thing happen once in 22 years of nursing. The patient we had experienced cardiac arrest, was resuscitated for over an hour, got 5 rounds of drugs and was shocked 5 times. They finally pronounced him dead and were leaving the room when a heart rate reappeared on the monitor. The nurses called the doctors back and they resumed resuscitation. The patient was sent to ICU on a ventilator. They told the family that he would likely never wake up, and never come off the ventilator. Two weeks later, he went home, perfectly normal. No one could believe it. This happened over 20 years ago, btw. I have no idea what happened to the patient after discharge.

I think that's the type of thing that happened to this child. He was the one in 10 million that survives a prolonged resuscitation attempt.

Yes, I'd class it a miracle.

I think every once in a great while, people are sent back to reassure us that there is a heaven. (that's my humble opinion, anyway).

 

[MandM3]

The second site looks like a German National Enquirer.....

It's not quite that bad but it is Germany's least reputable newspaper. It's the nearest we've got to the NE.

 

[momof5boys]

If someone falls into cold water and drowns, the saying is "they're not dead until they're warm and dead" Low body temperature slows everything down. CPR would be done until the body is closer to normal temperature. The CPR is what keeps oxygen going to the vital organs and yes it can take a long time. This type of resusitation is not unheard of! And to prove a point we are now actually cooling patients after CPR (if they survive a certain type of heart rythym!) The idea is to preserve brain function by cooling the body to lessen the release of toxic buildup that kills cells.

 

[pilotwife_02]

It's not quite that bad but it is Germany's least reputable newspaper. It's the nearest we've got to the NE.

Just remember, the NE broke the John Edwards story, the John and Kate story, Tiger Words, just sayin' So they aren't always "woman gives birth to aliens" stories.

And yes, quite a miracle, as I do believe in them and believe that God perform them!

 

[MandM3]

I believe in God and I believe in miracles. The Bild Zeitung is a lot harder to believe

 

[OceanAnnie]

Stories like this prove to me that one should not be toe-tagged, prepped and buried quickly. I would not bury someone until they are dead for 48 hours!

Isn't that the truth!

 

[4nana]

Praise God !! What a miracle this child was saved . Perhaps we'd have more miracles if medical staff could afford to spend hours with resuscitation efforts.

Sadly, my little 2yo great nephew wasn't so lucky , however we rest assured he is one of God's special angels.