I LOST my 12-year-old son on July 5 because of unexplained reasons. The doctors blamed this as sudden cardiac death or SCD. He remained on ventilator for five days and throughout that time period never regained consciousness.
SCD is defined as death that is abrupt, unexpected, owing to a cardiovascular cause. It is generally recognised as death that occurs within an hour from the onset of cardiovascular symptoms. However, in young people, it typically occurs within a few minutes of the symptom onset.
The estimated incidence of pediatric SCD ranges from 0.6 to 6.2 per 100,000 children in the United States. I could not find any prevalence data of Pakistan. Can this be prevented? It is difficult to predict as it occurs suddenly without any prior symptoms.
I have no family history of sudden deaths nor had my son ever shown signs of breathlessness. He was a healthy child and achieved all his milestones as per his age.
I am trying to gather all other parents who have lost their sons or daughters because of SCD and pass on the knowledge of basic life support (BLS) through some certified trainer.
I am in contact with Aga Khan Hospital for this training. The objective of this training will be to have trained people in the community so that if ever they comeacross the same problem in their f amily or community they can provide BL S and probably save the dying child.
I urge all parents to please drop their email ID to saeedhoda@hotmail.com. I will contact them and this training will be provided to the parents of deceased f amily members free of cost.
