Reversal of Brain Damage
In what is believed to be the first in the world, physicians have reversed brain damage suffered by a two-year-old that drowned in her family's pool. The two-year-old infant somehow made her way over the child gate and into the pool. Her mother found her face down, it is believed that she was in the water for approximately 15 minutes. The following events have and will forever change the landscape of what we in the medical field were taught and have believed to be impossible.
Between Eden's mother, EMS and emergency room personal they performed CPR on the infant for over 100 minutes. 17 Epi injections and multiple attempts to resuscitate by many Eden’s hearts started to beat again. By that time, Eden had suffered extensive damage to the brain, including both the white and the gray matter due to the lack of oxygen. The family was given the grim news that Eden had just hours to live, but instead of the worst, Eden began to improve and improved hour by hour.
Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Treatment
Eden's family immediately started searching for treatment options, that is when they found Dr. Paul Harch, M.D. an expert in hyperbaric oxygen therapy and traumatic brain injuries that practices in New Orleans. Dr. Harch was consulted and made recommendations to see if Eden would respond to simple normobaric (normal room pressured) oxygen, and respond she did. Forty-five days after her accident Eden began simple oxygen 45 minutes twice daily, responding, she began to laugh, move her hands, she became alert. She could grasp with her left hand. Eden's miracle recovery had begun.
Some 78 days had passed since her accident before Eden began her hyperbaric treatments. She returned almost back to normal but continued to have some motor nerve difficulties. After 39 hyperbaric sessions, her speech returned back to normal and coupled with physical therapy was able to walk again with the aid of a walker.
Paul Harch, who treated Eden, said in a statement: “The startling regrowth of tissue, in this case, occurred because we were able to intervene early in a growing child, before long-term tissue degeneration. Although it’s impossible to conclude from this single case if the sequential application of normobaric oxygen then HBOT would be more effective than HBOT alone, in the absence of HBOT therapy, short duration, repetitive normobaric oxygen therapy may be an option until HBOT is available."
Regrowth of the brain tissue has been confirmed by MRI, with studies being performed both prior to any normobaric oxygen and post hyperbaric oxygen therapy. Dr. Fogerty who read the studies and is the chair of the radiology department at the University of South Dakota stated: "this is the first time we have had an opportunity to do comparison studies of before and post-treatment".
Concluding, the researchers say that to their knowledge, this is the first reported case of gray matter loss and white matter atrophy reversal with any therapy and that treatment with oxygen should be considered in similar cases. “Such low-risk medical treatment may have a profound effect on recovery of function in similar patients who are neurologically devastated by drowning."
This news story has been termed as the most significant medical news story in 2017. The study was conducted by Dr. Paul Harch and Dr. Ted Fogarty both very respected pioneers in HBOT. I had the opportunity to meet Eden and her parents in New Orleans in August 2017. This is one phenomenal family striving to complete their odyssey and return their Eden back to normal. My gut feeling is that they will succeed.
During Dr. Harch and Fogerty's presentation in New Orleans, Eden stole the show and everyone's hearts when she borrowed the microphone of one of the presenters and started talking and singing. Eden you ROCK!
