A teenager who died at a rock climbing gym in Missouri City, Texas, is being called a miracle after the incredible happened.
When doctors pronounced 16-year-old Sammy Berko dead after trying to revive him with two hours of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), his family was in disbelief, Fox 26 reported Wednesday.
His mother, Jennifer, said her son had reached the top of the wall but went limp. No one was sure what was happening until they realized he was unresponsive and slowly brought him down.
The information was understandably difficult for Jennifer to process. She described it as “a moment of disbelief.”
Gym employees and medical professionals performed CPR, but their efforts were unsuccessful. Doctors then had to inform his parents their child was gone.
While his parents were saying their goodbyes, something no one could have ever imagined happened.
“I started talking to him, just telling him how much I love him and sorry that we didn’t know how to save him. Suddenly, as I started praying, my husband said, ‘oh my gosh, he’s moving,'” Jennifer recalled.
The teenager came back to life, and everyone was overwhelmed with joy.
The young man suffered short-term memory loss and is now undergoing rehabilitation due to a spinal injury from the incident.
He apparently has a rare genetic disorder known as Catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia (CPVT).
A few years ago, the family lost a younger son who suffered from seizures that caused traumatic brain injuries that later took his life.
What happened to Sammy has provided more answers regarding his younger brother. It was discovered that the two sons and their mother have a genetic mutation that Jennifer was unaware of until recently.
Following his incredible recovery, the teen’s mother said, “Nobody loves life more than Sammy does, so I think he pushed himself, he willed himself to survive and recover.”