A two-year-old British boy has made an extraordinary recovery after his heart stopped beating for 39 minutes and doctors told his parents that he would likely have irreparable brain damage.
Zach Hilary has the full abilities of a normal two-year-old just five months after he suffered a heart attack at home in York, in northern England, on January 26, British TV station ITV reports.
Zach's mother Trudy Hilary performed mouth-to-mouth on him for 10 minutes after finding him collapsed on the floor, groaning at home.
Paramedics took over upon arrival and transported Zach to York Hospital where doctors had to shock his heart with adrenaline three times to get it beating again — the little boy received well over 30 minutes of CPR in total.
Mrs Hilary said it felt like she and her husband Dave had to wait a lifetime to find out if their boy would live or die.
"The doctors told me that the prognosis was not good, that his heart had stopped beating for 39 minutes, and to prepare myself for the worst," she said.
Doctors put Zach into a medically induced coma and warned the couple that he had swelling on the brain and may suffer brain damage.
But Zach returned home on February 27 and is now living happily with his two brothers, Scott, who is aged six months, and Jake, five.
Mrs Hilary said watching Zach's recovery was "like watching a newborn in fast motion."
"He has had to learn to eat, hold a cup, walk and talk all over again, all in the past few months," she said.
One of the paramedics who helped Zach, Amy Mackintosh, said the case was one of the most unusual she had come across.
The cause of the heart attack is still unknown.
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