Leonardo Osorio McGeehan (centre) with his mother and Dr. Christopher Duke of Burjeel Medical City in Abu Dhabi. SUPPLIED

An 11-year-old boy suffering cardiac arrest in a pool in Abu Dhabi was saved, thanks to his mother who rushed to give him CPR. Leonardo Osorio McGeehan was in the pool with his sister and mother when the incident happened. “We were tossing a ball in the pool when my son said he was not feeling well and started going under the water,” said his mother, Martina. Martina, her daughter and a couple of people in the pool helped to get Leonardo out of the water. “He was struggling to breathe, and his eyes were rolling back. It seemed like he was having a seizure. I immediately started performing CPR,” Martina said. Luckily for Martina, CPR training was part of her job as a physical therapist in the UK. She was able to keep her son’s heart pumping until paramedics arrived with a defibrillator. Leonardo was transferred to the ICU of a hospital and intubated. After suffering a second cardiac arrest, he was transferred to Burjeel Medical City. There, the grade five student was diagnosed and treated for a rare congenital heart condition called Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome. Dr. Christopher Duke, Consultant Pediatric Cardiologist at Burjeel Medical City, said that one out of 1,000 people worldwide suffer from the disorder. “In simple terms, the patient had an extra piece of muscle inside his heart that caused abnormal electricity. Children with this syndrome usually present with palpitations, and it is very rare for such patients to suffer a cardiac arrest,” Dr. Duke said. ICA/Expat Media
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