Mum recalls horror as young son’s heart stopped on Disney rollercoaster ride
A mother has shared her agonizing experience being helpless on a Disney rollercoaster ride as her five-year-old son’s heart stopped.
Christine Tagle said she and her family had boarded Guardians of the Galaxy, their favorite ride at Walt Disney World in Orlando, on September 21.
‘About 20 seconds in I noticed my 5 year old old son passed out, through the whole ride I couldn’t get him to wake up,’ Tagle wrote on Facebook last week.
‘When the ride was over I pulled him out screaming for help.’
Tagle said staff pointed her to a hallway where she started performing CPR on her son, Ernesto. Seconds later, staff shocked the boy with an automated external defibrillator (AED).
Meanwhile, Tagle’s husband ran and found a couple who were a nurse and EMT and they continued doing CPR to keep Ernesto stable as he started having seizures.
Ernesto was rushed to a hospital, where doctors discovered that he had a genetic heart condition that caused him to faint during the ride. He was diagnosed with catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia.
The boy was airlifted from an emergency room to AdventHealth in Orlando and then to St Joseph’s Hospital in Tampa, Florida, where he underwent surgery to have an EV-ICD placed.
‘I’m happy to say that Ernesto is doing well after surgery with no signs of brain or heart damage,’ wrote Tagle in another Facebook post.
‘Even better this warrior is already home and already asking to ride his motorcycle.’
Tagle credited the theme park for having ‘AED everywhere’ for her son’s survival.
‘My son is alive because we were at Disney with trained staff,’ she wrote. ‘My son is alive because of this couple. My son is alive because I was a trained in CPR (parents PLEASE PLEASE get trained if you aren’t).’
The boy’s parents shared various photos of their son connected to medical tubes at hospitals and recovering at home. Through posting on social media, they were able to find and thank the hero couple that helped them during the horrific episode.
‘This past week has been a rollercoaster for our family,’ Tagle wrote.
‘Rollercoaster being the key word.’
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