BRISTOL, UNITED KINGDOM — A 10-month-old in the U.K. woke up from a 5-day coma with a smile on his face after doctors said there was a possibility he wouldn’t wake up.
Stuart and Emma Labuschagne say their son Michael went to bed March 15 just like any other baby.
Then around 5 a.m., his heart failed and he was rushed to the hospital.
“We watched our baby breathless, gasping for air while his heart stopped and paramedics worked to save his life,” the couple said on their GoFundMe page. “In that moment I did not think Michael would make it through.”
Michael survived an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, which is something only 7% of patients reportedly do.
But he was put into an induced coma and the Labuschagnes were told that even if he pulled through, he wouldn’t be the same baby.
He woke up 5 days later on March 21 and the couple says the first thing he did was smile at his dad.
Michael was diagnosed with cardiac fibroma: a heart disorder so rare that only a handful of patients have been reportedly diagnosed with it in the U.K.
“He currently has an internal pacemaker and defibrillator, but this has caused physical development delay and is currently at max threshold, which means it is not working as effectively as it should,” the family says.
The couple is now holding a fundraiser on their GoFundMe page to help pay for Michael’s surgery at Boston Children’s Hospital.
“The dream is to get him to Boston as soon as we can. Every day we worry if it will be our last with Michael,” the family says. “Please help us to get his tumour removed.”