A fit and healthy 12-year-old girl has just spent four days in a medically induced coma after suffering two cardiac arrests, according to her family.
Massachusetts seventh-grader Nevaeh Vieira is finally breathing on her own again in a pediatric intensive care unit after suffering the severe cardiac episodes last weekend.
The young child complained of chest pains before suddenly collapsing in her mother’s bedroom, WGGB-TV reported.
Her mother, Krissy, started performing CPR before the ambulance arrived and rushed her to the hospital.
Dr. John Kelley told the news station that the mother’s efforts likely saved her daughter’s life.
“Having an immediate response like that within minutes of the event is absolutely crucial,” Kelley told WGGB.
“If you have no circulation to the brain for five minutes or more, it’s very unlikely you’re going to get the person back.”
Nevaeh was in a medically induced coma for four days but is now awake.
She suffered some minor brain damage from a stroke she sustained from a lack of oxygen, but is expected to make a full recovery, WGGB reported.
“Her medical team still doesn’t know what the cause is,” the family’s GoFundMe page states.
After Nevaeh Vieira spent four days in a medically induced coma, her mother said she is expected to make a full recovery! https://t.co/1kJUy1GaOP
— Action News 5 (@WMCActionNews5) January 19, 2023
The Massachusetts case is just one of many recent examples of children suffering injury or death due to cardiac incidents.
In December, a cheerleading coach in Memphis, Michigan, used CPR and an automated external defibrillator to revive a student-athlete who went into cardiac arrest, according to a report by WJBK-TV.
Amanda Bobcean, who is also an emergency room nurse, told the station she was in “the right place at the right time.”
Her efforts restored the student’s pulse 15 minutes before EMS arrived, according to the report.
Jennifer Shea, the Beaumont Student Heart Check Manager for Corewell Health East, told WJBK that this was not an isolated heart episode in their state.
“We already have had multiple saves this year in schools,” Shea told the station.
Two Las Vegas-area teens also died suddenly after suffering cardiac arrest.
Jordan Brister was pronounced dead after collapsing in a school restroom after PE class on January 3.
A GoFundMe created on January 7 said, “Jordan Tyler Brister suddenly and unexpectedly suffered cardiac arrest while at school with no explanation as to why.
“Jordan was a senior in high school who planned to join the military after graduating.”
Another Las Vegas teen, 16-year-old Ashari Hughes, died suddenly on January 5 after suffering a “medical emergency” while playing in a flag football game.
That death was later ruled to be related to a congenital heart defect, according to the Clark County coroner.
Dr. Kelley told WGGB that cardiac events in children, like in Vieira’s case, are rare, but they can be serious.
The doctor said that, previously, children’s hearts were never “an organ or a system that I worry about.”
“These are very rare things,” Kelley added.
“In my 20 years, I can’t say for sure, but this is my first knowledge of a situation like this.”
