Cartier McDaniel, a four-year-old from Denver, amazingly lived after his heart stopped for 19 hours. After becoming ill and deteriorating, he was rushed to Children’s Hospital Colorado on April 8.
Doctors discovered he had experienced a heart arrest, causing them to put him on life support. His family, who had assembled to say goodbye, watched an incredible turn of events as Cartier fought for his life against all odds.
Despite physicians’ efforts to revive him for 19 hours, Cartier’s prognosis appeared bleak, prompting his entire family to brace for the worst. However, contrary to all expectations, Cartier’s heart resumed beating. Cartier’s father, Dominique, told NBC News that medical authorities couldn’t provide a scientific explanation: “It was God.”
Cartier’s mother, Destiny Anderson, said: “The whole hospital room was spinning. I was shaking.”
“I couldn’t believe it was happening,” Anderson said of how she felt when doctors earlier indicated that her son’s condition was bad.
She claimed that medics made desperate attempts to revive Cartier, including doing CPR without success. They then put him on life support, allowing the blood to circulate via an artificial lung for oxygenation.
During a 19-hour period, medical specialists assessed Cartier’s organ damage from oxygen deprivation and attempted to restart his heart again.
Anderson said, “At that point, we’re just praying for the best. He was on life support but it was only a matter of time before the machine stopped working.”
The family of Cartier gathered at the hospital and offered prayers in preparation to bid him farewell. Anderson said, “I’m not going to lie, I did have doubts that everything was going to be OK. I’m human. I’m thinking, ‘How am I going to tell my kids I’m not bringing their brother home?”‘
“I was trying to make peace that this may be what God wants.”
Then, for no apparent reason, physicians noticed his heart beating again. However, due to the prolonged lack of oxygen, his long-term prognosis remains questionable.
His family revealed that the cardiac arrest was caused by a Group A Streptococcus infection, which led to sepsis.
However, particular information of the infection remain unknown.