A teenage boy from Texas miraculously woke up two hours after he was pronounced dead.
Sammy Berko, a teenager from Missouri City, Texas, had a close brush with death at a rock climbing gym when he suffered cardiac arrest and collapsed after climbing to the top of a wall and ringing the bell.
Sammy’s mother, Jennifer Berko, recounted the horrifying experience, saying that Sammy’s body went limp and they thought he was either playing around or had passed out. They lowered him down when they realized the boy was unresponsive.
Paramedics and doctors tried to revive the teenager with CPR for almost two hours before telling his mother that her son had died. Berko and her husband, Craig, were telling their son their goodbyes and sat with him. The unexpected happened as they were talking to him. The dad noticed his son suddenly move.
The medical team was called back, and they began administering aid again.
Because he went for a couple of hours without oxygen, doctors feared that he had suffered a brain injury. Despite that, Sammy only experienced short-term memory loss and some physical injuries. His doctors will continue to observe him to ensure that he is okay. He has been working to regain his strength and is undergoing physical therapy for his ischemic spine injury.
Sammy told local news outlets that he could not remember anything from that day, and his last memory was of the day before, when he and his parents signed online waivers for the climbing.
Sammy suffers from a rare genetic disorder called Catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia (CPVT), which affects his heart. He also lost his younger brother Frankie to the same genetic mutation three years ago. Sammy and his mother are taking medication to prevent future issues.
Sammy’s story captured the attention of medical professionals, including Dr. Stacey Hall, director of the Pediatric Rehabilitation Program at the Institute for Rehabilitation and Research (TIRR) in Houston, Texas. She called Sammy’s recovery “a literal miracle,” given that CPR for such a prolonged period typically leads to severe global anoxic brain injury due to oxygen deprivation.