Man Has Heart Attack In Tomorrowland, Drugs Ruled Out
A tragedy almost occurred in the premises of Tomorrowland in Boom, Belgium, last Saturday night, when a 22 year-old had a heart attack and ended up in an artificial coma.
The man, identified as Lode Ruys, was attending to the festival for the first time with his girlfriend, and after a drink, he started not to feel so well. Having something to eat would have been a good idea, but because of the long queues and packed food stalls, they just decided to sit down and rest for a bit. It was when they tried to get up that his legs failed on him, he leaned over his girlfriend dropping his soda cup and his eyes started to shake. In the confusion, his girlfriend threw water over his face, but it did not work to wake him up. Suddenly, what could have been the most mesmerizing memory turned out to be a nightmare.
She was desperately screaming for help when a nurse responded. After no evidence of his vital signs, the nurse started giving him a heart massage in the middle of the crowd. The safety team quickly arrived to continue with the Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation and transferred him to the nearest hospital. Doctors decided to keep Lode in a temporary artificially induced coma, due to the critical condition he had when he was admitted.
Lode woke up on sunday morning and called his girlfriend, but he does not recall what happened and does not realize it yet.
Right now, Lode is being examined to find the cause of the heart attack. Doctors have already ruled out drug intake or alcohol, and initial testings and family records are showing an enlarged heart and a small heart valve. However, his girlfriend Shauni Leclère is quite certain that the episode has more to do with the hot weather during the event rather than with alcohol or a preexisting medical condition: “I think the combination of fatigue and heat was the trigger, because I had just drank as much as he did“.
His condition is now stable and we wish him a safe recovery. Thankfully, Tomorrowland went off without a hitch in Weekend 1.
Source: HLN.be
