On a family ski trip in Colorado, USA, a 16-year-old teenager avoided the worst thanks to his mother’s Apple Watch. And precisely thanks to the health sensor that can measure the level of oxygen in the blood.
In any case, connected objects never cease to amaze us. At least that’s what this story, which took place earlier this year in the heart of the American mountains of Colorado, proves. A teenager narrowly avoided high-altitude pulmonary edema detected by his mother, Marcella Lee’s smartwatch.
The networked accessory from the bitten apple brand is known to have many features that are as smart as they are practical. She has also featured in incredible stories for discovering Parkinson’s disease or even reporting her owner’s irregular heartbeat who is suffering from heart cancer. But not only that, with the Apple Watch you can also calculate your daily sports performance, manage your stress or even measure the blood oxygen rate. And it was precisely the latter that allowed Marcella Lee to grasp the urgency of the situation and prevent her son from becoming short of breath.
Low oxygen detected by Apple Watch
The 16-year-old American initially complained that he felt too weak to accompany the rest of the group onto the slopes. His mother was surprised and noticed several hours later that her son had blue fingertips and lips. Concerned, Marcella places her connected watch directly on her son’s wrist to measure his blood oxygen levels. The finding is alarming, to say the least, as the result shows 66% instead of a rate that normally ranges from 95 to 100%. She then decides to take her son to the ER as she fears the worst. The medical team then determined that the patient was developing potentially fatal high-altitude pulmonary edema (HAPE).
After this episode, Marcella Lee decided to share her incredible experience. The one who also works as a TV presenter in life thought it appropriate to share her story and that of her son directly in the show that she presents on the American channel CBS 8 and on her Instagram account:
And to explain, among other things, what prompted her to use the functionality of Apple’s digital faucet for her son: “On Friday morning, my 16-year-old son said that he didn’t feel good enough to ski (…) We took ibuprofen , drank lots of water to stay hydrated and figured it would only take a few days for us to acclimate.” To then add, “It was dark and late and I couldn’t really tell if I was seeing things saw if it was really blue”.
A story that finally ends well and proves once again that the Apple Watch can save lives.
Sources: Tom’s Guide, CBS 8 San Diego, Apple