Legacy MattersBoy leaves hospital 2 weeks after dying
A 6-year-old boy left an Omaha hospital on Wednesday having survived a fast-moving virus that nearly killed him.
T.J. Pfannenstiel was clinically dead for a few minutes, doctors said, but medical technology and a group of dedicated professionals changed that, his family said. They also credit prayer.
"We ended up watching our son have a heart attack right in front of us," said T.J.'s father, Tim Pfannenstiel, recounting a three-week ordeal.
T.J. had been fighting a virus until two weeks ago, his father said.
"He kept insisting, 'My heart hurts. My heart hurts,'" Tim Pfannenstiel said.
Doctors said the boy's heart was barely beating. His parents rushed him to the Children's Hospital emergency room and minutes later, the boy's heart stopped in the intensive care unit. Doctors kept T.J. alive with a machine -- called the E-CPR -- that bypasses the heart and lungs until the heart is ready to beat again on its own.
Dr. Jeffrey Demare and a team of experts gave T.J. a fighting chance.
"We got here at the right time, the right place, with the right people, the right tools, and we got a lot of help -- prayers, and a miracle happened," said Tim Pfannenstiel.