A mother from Malartic, in Abitibi-Témiscamingue, resuscitated her 16-year-old boy who was in cardiac arrest for several minutes.
Hugo Paradis collapsed to the ground on February 12 while playing basketball with his father, friends and brother at a school in Malartic.
His mother, a nurse, rushed to his aid. “Five minutes passed between the moment Hugo collapsed and my arrival there. “He was on the ground, he had no pulse, no breathing,” says Cathie Allaire in an interview with TVA Nouvelles.
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She performed resuscitation maneuvers for more than eight minutes before a police officer took control. “Resuscitation is always difficult, but when it comes to your own child, we are talking about a completely different matter.” I thank God that I was able to put my hands to work because my head was in a panic. “My child was dead,” she explains.
The little boy was revived after more than 16 minutes of effort and two shocks with a defibrillator. Hugo was taken by ambulance to Montreal Children's Hospital, where he remained for two weeks.
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Doctors discovered that Hugo had a heart condition called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, but had not previously had any symptoms.
Fortunately, Hugo speaks very little about the aftermath of this event. “I consider myself lucky because given the number of times I spent without oxygen, it could have been worse,” says Hugo. However, he now has to wear a defibrillator under his skin.
Her mother encourages people to get training in resuscitation as she is proof that it can truly save lives.