15-yr-old's lungs collapsed after he fell on a corner of picnic table — his smart response helped him miraculously recover
Learning that their child was in a life-threatening accident might not be easy for parents. But a Minnesota couple has hope that their 15-year-old son would make a full recovery after being in a freak accident because of the one decision he took after being injured. The teen was at a park with his friend when he tried to get up, but fell and got injured near his Adam's apple after it hit a picnic table, per PEOPLE. The son, Jayden Balk, had started choking immediately after being injured. His dad explained what happened next.
Balk's dad, Jordan Kimball, explained the entire incident after his son wrote down everything on a whiteboard. Balk couldn't talk because of the injury. "He was just simply sitting down and when he went to go stand up, he tripped and he fell into the corner of the picnic table. That's how his airway got blocked." He added, "It was a freak of all freak accidents." Balk didn't know something serious had happened at first because he tried to drink water after he fell down. However, he couldn't swallow the water and realized something was wrong. "It felt like something was stuck in his throat." His friend tried to call 911, but there were some issues with his phone and he couldn't connect with them.
So Balk rushed to a family he knew who lived near the park and told them what had happened. "The dad had just cracked open a beer and was going to go do yard work," the dad went on. He noticed that the teen was struggling and coincidentally, a family friend, who was a nurse at the Mayo Clinic, was present at the house and was able to administer CPR until help arrived. Once the emergency personnel arrived, they inserted a tube in Balk's chest as his lungs had collapsed. "If it wasn't for the quick responses from everyone that helped Jayden at the park, he very well may not be here today," Kimball pointed out. The teen's parents had noticed signs of something wrong before they were informed about the incident.
The dad had read about an incident at the park on Facebook and was concerned because his son liked to play at that park, too. The teen's stepmom, Autumn Noble, also saw the ambulance as she was grocery shopping. The sheriff called the Dad first, but when he said that he was about to reach home, the sheriff decided to go to their house to give them the information. "The look on his face just... I don't know." They knew that their son had suffered an accident, but they didn't know what had actually happened, so the parents were quite worried when they arrived Mayo Clinic's St. Mary's Campus. The doctors didn't know the extent of the teen's injuries, but he was in critical condition throughout the night. However, the staff felt that the teen would be able to make it.
Finally, the dad could meet his son at 3:30 AM in the morning, for the first time after he got injured. "Scariest sight for a parent. I'm not even sure how to explain it. Emotions were all over the place." The teen opened his eyes after four hours and was in the ICU for the next nine days. His stepmom was at his side throughout that time. The teen boy had been recovering well and the two tubes in his chest were removed a week after he had surgery. He was able to breathe on his own a few days after the incident. The teen's uncle, Ryan Nordstrom, started a GoFundMe for him and shared that most of his airways had been severed. "Honestly, I can't believe how much Jayden has been smiling during this whole thing. He has such a great heart. Such a strong kid," his dad expressed. Balk's recovery has been slow and steady, per KIMT News 3.