Now this is really CPR 101!

Longest save on record! 101 minutes of CPR revived the victim!

It is a common part of learning CPR to be taught that immersion in cold water can extend the period of Clinical Death beyond the normal 4-6 minutes prior to irreversible brain death, but this one is amazing!

Clinical Death/ Biological Death
Allow me to take a moment to explain what happens when an individual’s breathing and heartbeat stop. The first stage is called Clinical Death. Clinical death is not necessarily permanent. An individual’s brain can stay alive for about 4-6 minutes after breathing and heartbeat have stopped. This isn’t much time, but it is our “Window of Survival.” If appropriate medical care is initiated within the first minutes of cardiac arrest, the individual has a much greater chance of survival. Many individuals have survived because of early entry into the Emergency Medical System (EMS), and prompt bystander CPR and Defibrillation. If more than 4-6 minutes elapse, however, the individual will most likely experience permanent and irreversible brain damage or Biological Death.

One hour and 41 minutes of CPR later, a Mifflinburg toddler regained his pulse and heart rate after being submerged in icy water at least 20 minutes — and may well be a medical miracle, said a Geisinger Medical Center physician, among about 50 people who had a hand in saving the 22-month-old child.

According to the The Daily Item, not only was the boy resuscitated, he’s also recovered neurologically, said Dr. Frank Maffei, director of pediatric intensive care at Janet Weis Children’s Hospital in Danville.
The child eventually wound up at Janet Weis for treatment via Mifflinburg EMS, Evangelical Community Hospital and Life Flight medical helicopter after he was pulled from a swift-moving creek in West Buffalo Township.

The child was discharged Sunday after five days in the hospital, and physicians will continue to watch his health. “But at this time, he has a highly favorable recovery,” Maffei said.

The 50 people include the neighbor who pulled the boy from the creek to the responding medical professional chain who kept the CPR going, Maffei said. “It was teamwork like I had never seen and a privilege to be part of,” he said.

“As far as we can tell, there is no evidence of gross brain damage,” the doctor said of the boy. “He ambulates, speaks, remembers his (siblings.) He asked for apple juice and played with trucks.”

Plunge and recovery



The child’s story began last Wednesday about 6 p.m. along Emery Road in Mifflinburg. According to state police at Milton, the toddler disappeared while playing near a small creek with two older siblings.

He was found face down about a quarter-mile downstream, stopped by a large branch, Maffei said. It was here a neighbor, who Maffei identified as Randall Beachel, of Mifflinburg, got the child from the water. Beachel did not return a phone call for comment by deadline Monday.