Essex boy, 2, thanks ambulance crew who saved his life

Monday, 16 January 2012 08:40

Kai Clark, from Clacton-on-Sea, suffers from a rare condition called Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy which caused him to have a cardiac arrest in October.

Kai's heart stopped for over six minutes whilst paramedics were treating him.

Doctor Richard Lyon, who treated Kai on his way to Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridgeshire, said that he had "never ever heard of such a young child suffering from Ventricular Fibrillation [VF]". Kai's family praised the East Anglian Air Ambulance Service who kept treating Kai on the way to the hospital, despite his heart having stopped for six minutes.

VF is when the heart beats in a severely abnormal rhythm which prevents blood from being pumped around the body properly. The only treatment for VF is to stop the heart completely so it resets to its natural rhythm, often with a defibrillator.

After 5 weeks recovering in Great Ormond Street Hospital, and Christmas spent at home, Kai returned to Cambridge Airport with his family to thank members of the East Anglian Air Ambulance Service and take a tour of the helicopter in which he was taken to the hospital.

Kelly Clark, Kai's mother, said that:

"He was pronounced dead for six minutes so it is a miracle that they could bring him back. He suffers from a rare condition called Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy which we think is what triggered the heart attack. We love him so much and I just don't know what I would have done if he died. What the doctors and paramedics did was truly amazing I can't thank them enough if it was not for them my son would not be here."