By Steve Mehling and Gray News staff
Published: Aug. 29, 2024 at 1:41 AM MDT
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV/Gray News) - A Tennessee family says doctors have no idea why their son, who they say was in great health and active, had a heart attack at age 12 that left him hospitalized with extensive brain damage.
Sammy Silverman, now 13, should be starting the eighth grade at Blackman Middle School in Murfreesboro. Instead for the past six weeks, he and his parents, Adam and Janette Silverman, have been at the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital in Nashville, WSMV reports.
Sammy’s parents say doctors still don’t know why their son, who they say was in great health and active, had a heart attack at age 12.
“You never think, ‘Hey, that’s going to happen to my kid,’” Janette Silverman said. “Then, it does.”
Sammy’s parents say it started in July when he came down with a stomach bug. Almost two days later, everyone thought he was feeling better.
“He collapsed in front of my eyes,” Adam Silverman said.
Sammy went into cardiac arrest, and his father performed CPR until medics arrived. The medics told Sammy’s parents they lost his pulse four times on the way to the hospital.
“It’s so frustrating. He was a happy, healthy 12-year-old boy,” Janette Silverman said.
The Silvermans say the most frustrating part is that doctors are as puzzled as they are.
“They don’t know why my son is in this position,” Adam Silverman said.
Sammy was transferred to Vanderbilt, where a once grim prognosis has turned into miraculous progress. He was on life support but is now breathing on his own.
“He took his first breaths by himself. It was amazing,” Janette Silverman said. “I knew that day he was going to be OK.”
Having suffered extensive brain damage, Sammy’s permanent prognosis is unclear. Doctors have warned his parents he may never walk or talk again, according to a GoFundMe for the family.
The Silvermans now hope to transfer Sammy to the Shepherd Center in Atlanta, which specializes in rehab for traumatic brain injuries.
“We’re at home with our three girls, and it’s like there’s a part of our family that’s not there ‘cause he’s not with us,” Janette Silverman said. “However he is, I just want him with us. And he will be.”
Six weeks since an inexplicable incident, the family is holding together, willing to do whatever they can to get Sammy back home.
“My family is everything,” Adam Silverman said. “Without your family, you haven’t got much.”
The Silvermans are in a tough spot financially with all of Sammy’s medical bills. They started their GoFundMe to offset costs.
Since her son’s hospitalization, Janette Silverman had to quit her job, the only source of income after her husband had a stroke. Both parents have also been taking an Uber from Murfreesboro to Nashville every day to be with their son since they have no car of their own.
My Take…
There are thousands of stories like this.
“Doctors are as puzzled as the parents are”. I bet they are.
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