Global Courant 2023-04-17 00:36:58
Sammy Berko, a teenage boy from Missouri City, Texas, went to a climbing gym where he went into cardiac arrest and died. Two hours later he was alive.
“He climbed to the top of the wall, rang the doorbell, as we were told, and then his body went limp and it looked like he was playing or passed out. They weren’t quite sure and when they realized he wasn’t responded, they slowly lowered him,” Jennifer Berko, Sammy’s mother, told me Houston’s Fox 26.
Paramedics and doctors administered CPR for two hours before telling Jennifer, “He’s gone.” She and her husband, Craig, sat with their son for a few minutes to say goodbye.
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“I started talking to him, just telling him how much I love him and I’m sorry we didn’t know how to save him. Suddenly, when I started praying, my husband said, ‘Oh my God, he’s going move,” he said. Jennifer to the local news station.
The couple screamed for the medical team to rush back in and begin administering aid.
Because of how long Sammy was without oxygen, there were fears that he suffered a serious brain injury. However, apart from some physical injuries, he only suffers from short-term memory loss so far.
ambulances (Orange Fire Department EMS)
“I don’t remember the day it happened. The last thing I remember is the night before we had to sign waivers online (for the climbing gym), and then I woke up, not even in the ICU,” Sammy told Fox 26. “I woke up in the temporary ICU and that’s the first thing I remember. Then I remembered my dad telling me, this is what happened and you better remember this time because he so often said.”
Despite how lucky Sammy was, that doesn’t mean the road to recovery was easy. Sammy has been working on regaining strength in his legs after a month in hospital and is undergoing physical therapy for the ischemic spinal injury.
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“I was very touched by his story. It’s very poignant and very unusual. That one young man you know who had this catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia (CPVT), which is a super rare genetic condition that affects his heart,” Dr. . Stacey Hall, medical director of the pediatric rehabilitation program at TIRR, told Fox 26. “We see kids here all the time who’ve had CPR, but in very prolonged CPR we typically see very severe anoxic brain injury. It’s a literal miracle.”
The Berkos are currently preparing their home for Sammy’s wheelchair.
“I knew it would be a weird, crazy experience to learn to walk again and work on strength without using my legs to balance myself. It’s just been an amazing experience here, really, like I’ve noticed that I am better every day! I do something new every day,” Sammy told the local station.
This tragedy also shed some light on a past tragedy as the Berkos lost their son Frankie three years prior to what they now know is the same genetic mutation that nearly killed Sammy. He and his mother have been tested and are currently on medication to help prevent future problems.
