It took a chilling 25 minutes before his heart started again.
In a terrifying medical ordeal, a British university student miraculously survived after being clinically dead for 25 minutes in a US hospital. According to BBCCharlie Vincent’s inaugural day as a canoeing instructor at a New Hampshire summer camp took a drastic turn when excessive sun exposure left him with severe second-degree burns on his legs.
Unaware of the severity of the burns, he continued to work, but the pain and damage soon became unbearable, leading to a medical emergency. Camp leaders rushed him to the hospital, where doctors diagnosed not only severe sunburn but also pneumonia. While doctors were performing emergency surgery, his heart stopped for 25 minutes and he also suffered a small stroke.
It took 25 minutes for his heart to restart, his family said. Charlie’s sister Emily Vincent, 24, described his recovery from the operating table as a “miracle”. She also said doctors discovered he had an enlarged heart, also known as cardiomegaly, which means the heart has to work harder than normal.
The 20-year-old was later placed in a medically induced coma for seven days, with doctors initially fearing he would need heart and kidney transplants. However, against all odds, Mr. Vincent managed to survive, as his organs miraculously began to recover.
“At one point I just couldn’t see how Charlie could do it, it was absolutely heartbreaking, it was hell. It’s definitely a miracle that he’s still here, I think the hospital he was in gave him the most incredible care and without that, I don’t think he would have survived,” she said.
Charlie is now taking his first steps towards a return as he has regained the strength to walk again. He is expected to return to the UK for further treatment in the coming days on a medical flight.
The Vincent family has created a GoFundMe to help cover the costs of Charlie’s medical bills. It has already raised more than £13,000 and is expected to be spent on the parents’ travel expenses as well as medical bills.
This story originally appeared on Ndtv.com read the full story