Oscar Stuebe 6 year old Florida boy struck by baseball goes into cardiac arrest only to be saved by his quick thinking mom as the boy stopped breathing and going into a seizure. Dealing with commotio cordis.
A six-year-old Florida boy was saved by his quick-thinking mom after the boy going into cardiac arrest after being hit by a baseball during a little league game.
Oscar Stuebe, 6, suffered commotio cordis, the same rare condition that almost killed Buffalo Bills NFL player Damar Hamlin, when he was hit by a baseball on March 10.
His mother Sarah Stuebe, who is a nurse, rushed onto the field and, along with another parent, gave him CPR – which must be administered within three minutes.
What to do, time running out…
Oscar was filling in for his seven-year-old brother’s little league team in Lake Worth, FL, when he tried to catch a fly ball in centerfield, only to be hit in the chest.
He immediately slumped to the ground with his father Riley running on the field to help according to the Today Show.
‘Initially, it seemed he got the wind knocked out of him, but in seconds, Riley and the other coaches on the field realized it was more serious,’ Sarah wrote online.
Both Oscar’s parents couldn’t find a pulse as their son began seizing.
‘Everything was stiff. His fingers were stiff, his hands were stiff, his arms were stiff. You could tell he was not in control of his body,’ Riley told NBC.
Sarah added: ‘He went lifeless. His eyes were rolling in the back of his head. He turned grey. He started gasping.’
As a physician I believe Damar Hamlin was likely suffering from commotio cordis where a blow to the chest at a precise moment in the electrical cycle stops the heart. Those trying to tie this to vaccine status to project their unscientific beliefs are terrible, horrible people. pic.twitter.com/H5KNnHPZMK
— Chris Haddock (@drdawg1996) January 3, 2023
Quick thinking mom saves 6 year old boy’s life
His mother began CPR for about two minutes before a parent from a the game on the neighboring field took over until paramedics arrived.
Oscar was rushed to St Mary’s Medical Center and woke up delirious and hallucinating the next day and did not sleep again until 5pm the following evening.
‘Sleep apparently was the best medicine. He woke up and was like, “Hi, Mom!” And it was him,’ Sarah said.
Oscar’s parents didn’t leave his bedside and were still in the clothes they wore to the baseball game two days earlier.
After a few days of physical therapy, he was released from hospital and sent home.
Oscar is back to his old self, and he and his brothers will wear chest protectors whenever they play, even if it’s just in the backyard.
Sarah said baseball and lacrosse were the two sports with the highest risk of commotio cordis, and all kids who play should wear them.
What is Commotio cordis?
The extremely rare condition only occurs when the heart is struck hard enough during a 40-millisecond window in the cardiac cycle.
Commotio cordis is an extremely rare condition in which an abnormal heart rhythm (ventricular fibrillation) and cardiac arrest happen immediately upon an object (usually something small and hard like a baseball or hockey puck) striking the chest directly over the heart at a very critical time during a heartbeat.
CPR must be administered within about three minutes or the patient has only a five per cent chance of survival.
‘As a lacrosse player for the majority of my life and current coach I’ve seen this happen a time or two,’ a commenter wrote on Sarah’s Instagram post.
‘Once I was able to get to my teammate and begin CPR the other time another player and parent started.’
Sarah encouraged all parents to get CPR training so they could be prepared if something similar happened.
