BOULDER — A 13-year-old boy who collapsed with a serious cardiac problem at the finish line of Monday’s Bolder Boulder owes his life to quick-acting race medical crews.
The boy, whose name wasn’t released because of federal confidentiality laws, was later said to be in stable condition and “doing beautifully,” according to race medical director Todd Dorfman.
When emergency personnel arrived, the boy was not breathing and was turning blue. Dorfman said the boy had no pulse and his heart was in ventricular fibrillation, a rhythm problem that prevents the heart from pumping blood to the body.
The boy’s heart was shocked back into regular rhythm at Folsom Field, and he was transported to Boulder Community Hospital, where three cardiologists were waiting for him. He was later flown to Denver’s Children’s Hospital, which has pediatric cardiologists on staff.
Dorfman speculated the boy did not know he had a heart rhythm problem, and he was extremely lucky to find out the way he did.
“This was kind of his stress test, if you will, and he failed it,” Dorfman said. “Because of the response and our availability, he lived. He would not have lived if this happened on a playground or somewhere else.”
John Meyer, The Denver Post
