Dad experienced cardiac arrest while driving—his son’s quick measures from back seat saved the whole family
Attention to detail can be life-saving in many cases. A family experienced such an incident while returning from a trip in Massachusetts. The dad, Robbie Gomes, had gone into cardiac arrest while driving. But thankfully, his teenage son, Joshua, noticed a small detail from the back seat and it made him jump into action. Soon enough, he had saved his entire family from disaster with his quick thinking and life-saving skills, per NBC-affiliate WJAR. Robbie shared that he would never forget what his son did that day.
The 16-year-old noticed that his dad's head had slumped over while he was driving on Route 9 on the lane at the far left. The car had started going towards the center guard rail as the dad no longer had control over the vehicle. The mom was sitting in the passenger seat while the teen sat in the back seat with his 12-year-old sister and could see his dad from his seat. He immediately stood up and straightened the steering wheel so the car would come to rest. He picked up his dad's leg from the floor and slowly put it on the brake. As the car came to a halt, the mom called 911 while Joshua stopped passing people for help.
The teen could get help from some other drivers and put his dad on the road. He administered CPR on Robbie until the first responders arrived at the scene. Joshua remembered that at one point, his dad had no pulse at all. But instead of panicking, he kept working to save him. He was hailed as a hero for saving his family in an emergency situation. The teen kept his calm throughout the ordeal and used the CPR training he had gotten in his high school health class. The efforts he put in turned out to be crucial for saving his dad's life. "It was a blur. I don't remember anything other than hearing the 911 operator," the teen recounted.
"With him being there and doing CPR so quickly and resuscitating me, he went on until the ambulance came. He saved my life. If I had been by myself, I wouldn't have been here right now," Robbie expressed. 10 days after the incident, the dad had been recovering well and a stent had been put into his body. The man had no memory of the day of the incident and the next few days were quite blurry for him. "I don't remember anything until 3 days later," Robbie added. He explained that he never imagined that such a situation would occur and his son would step up in such a spectacular way. The dad admitted that he would always remember what his son did for him.
Death or loss of vehicle control due to heart-related problems is a major cause of road accidents, according to a study. The study collected data from 21 cases. The drivers in these cases had a history of hypertension, myocardial infarction and fatty liver. Most of the drivers surveyed were men between the ages of 40 and 60. Hence, it was suggested that men in this group who drive frequently should go through regular physical examination to keep a check on their health in order to avoid such situations.