Health
When 2-year-old goes into cardiac arrest, parents take life-saving action
Most parents of toddlers worry about sleep habits and sniffles, but heart failure isn’t usually a concern.
It certainly wasn’t on the Thomases’ radar when their 2-year-old son went into sudden cardiac arrest in the middle of the night at their Illinois home.
When the child woke up screaming, his parents ran into the room. (See the video at the top of this article.)
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“Hearing him scream out was alarming, as he usually slept soundly, and it was a horrible cry,” Stephanie Thomas told Fox News Digital.
“When I went into his room, he continued to scream out and then face-plant into his crib.”
Stephanie and Kris Thomas’ 2-year-old son went into sudden cardiac arrest in the middle of the night at their Illinois home. (Stephanie Thomas/OSF HealthCare)
At first, the couple thought their son was just having a night terror, so Stephanie Thomas — a clinical dietitian at OSF HealthCare Children’s Hospital of Illinois — sat next to her son’s crib with her hand on his back, trying to calm him down.
“When he finally settled, I could feel his breathing slowly come to a stop,” she recalled. “I picked him up out of his crib and placed him on the floor. With him being unresponsive, I felt for a pulse and started CPR.”
“I was petrified and confused about how my seemingly healthy 2-year-old was in this situation.”
She added, “I was petrified and confused about how my seemingly healthy 2-year-old was in this situation.”
As she performed CPR, her husband, Kris Thomas, called 911.
Emergency responders rushed the boy to OSF HealthCare. After 11 days of testing, he was diagnosed with Brugada syndrome, a very rare heart condition that can cause sudden cardiac arrest and death.
After 11 days of testing, the 2-year-old was diagnosed with Brugada syndrome, a very rare heart condition that can cause sudden cardiac arrest and death. (Stephanie Thomas/OSF HealthCare)
Though there can be some signs of Brugada syndrome, such as fainting or passing out, the condition is often not discovered until cardiac arrest occurs.
The Thomases’ son had a similar incident about a month before the cardiac arrest, which they now believe may have been his first episode.
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“He woke up in the middle of the night with a horrible scream, had some gasping and was hard to calm,” Stephanie recalled. “It was only a short period, and once he calmed, he seemed ‘normal.’ We assumed it was a night terror.”
As Brugada syndrome is often inherited, both parents were tested for genetic abnormalities, but it was determined their son’s syndrome is a “mosaic defect,” which is when there are two or more genetically different sets of cells in the body.
“Our son acts and appears healthy more than 99% of the time, until his heart gets into an arrhythmia that his body and medication cannot manage on their own,” Stephanie Thomas told Fox News Digital. (Stephanie Thomas/OSF HealthCare)
The OSF team implanted the young boy with an EV-ICD (extravascular implantable cardioverter-defibrillator), which is positioned outside the heart’s blood vessels. It’s designed to detect and correct any abnormal heart rhythms.
This was the first time the device was implanted in a child at such a young age, the hospital noted in a press release.
Since the first episode, the child has been hospitalized six more times. Each time an abnormal heart rhythm is detected, the EV-ICD delivers a “life-saving shock” to the boy’s heart.
“Our son acts and appears healthy more than 99% of the time, until his heart gets into an arrhythmia that his body and medication cannot manage on their own,” Stephanie Thomas told Fox News Digital. “In these cases, he receives a shock from his ICD.”
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The boy has been readmitted to the hospital due to arrhythmias and medication titration seven times since his initial discharge, his mother added.
Sunita Ferns, M.D., a pediatric electrophysiologist at OSF HealthCare Saint Francis Medical Center who is treating the Thomases’ son, noted that her young patient is now “married to cardiology.”
The parents said it can be challenging to navigate the episodes with a 2-year-old who can’t understand what’s happening. (Stephanie Thomas/OSF HealthCare)
“We monitor these devices constantly. If we see any arrhythmia in the background, despite the medication he’s on, we can offer him other technologies,” Dr. Ferns said in the OSF press release.
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“Ablative technologies can help modify the substrate, which is the tissue that’s responsible for the bad rhythm.”
To help control his arrhythmias, the boy also takes a compounded oral medication every six hours, which he will take for the rest of his life.
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The parents said it can be challenging to navigate the episodes with a 2-year-old who can’t understand what’s happening.
The family now aims to raise awareness of the importance of having CPR training, being alert to warning signs and putting an emergency plan in place. (Stephanie Thomas/OSF HealthCare)
“The hardest part is when he says things like, ‘I can’t use the elephant blankie because it shocked me,’” said Stephanie Thomas. “He makes these associations between being shocked and the objects or places around him.”
There are specific triggers for the boy’s arrhythmias, the family has learned, such as low-grade fevers and even slight illnesses, like a cold.
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“It is vital that we keep him as healthy as we can — which can be challenging with an active 2-year-old and [also] having a 4-year-old,” the mom said.
“We make sure that he stays up to date on his and our whole family’s vaccines. We do our best to tightly regulate any temperatures.”
“It is vital that we keep him as healthy as we can.”
The Thomases now aim to raise awareness of the importance of having CPR training, being alert to warning signs and putting an emergency plan in place.
As a healthcare employee, Stephanie Thomas has maintained her Basic Life Support (BLS) certification for over 10 years.
“I have always said that I work with doctors and nurses, so I felt this was something I would never use — but the doctors and nurses were not in my house the night my son went into cardiac arrest, so it was left to me.”
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Eating processed meat like ham, sausage and bacon may be linked to a higher risk of certain types of cancer, according to new research.
While health organizations have already confirmed that processed meat can contribute to colon cancer, this study looked closer at cancers in the upper digestive tract, where the link has historically been less clear.
To understand these connections, researchers from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC), one of the world’s largest long-term nutrition and cancer cohorts, tracked the health and diets of 450,112 people across Europe for an average of 14 years.
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The study group included 131,426 men and 318,686 women, according to the study’s press release.
During the follow-up period, 876 people developed stomach cancer and 215 people developed esophageal adenocarcinoma, which is cancer of the tube connecting the mouth to the stomach.
For female participants, eating both processed meat and white meat was linked to an increased risk of developing the disease. (iStock)
Researchers tracked where the stomach cancers grew, separating them into the upper part of the stomach near the throat and the lower part of the stomach.
The researchers also sorted the tumors into two categories based on how the cancer cells appeared under a microscope: intestinal, which forms more organized structures, and diffuse, in which the cells are more scattered throughout the tissue.
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After adjusting for other lifestyle factors, the researchers found that for every extra 30 grams of processed meat a person ate per day, their overall risk of stomach cancer went up by 9%. Eating that same extra 30 grams a day was also linked to a 13% higher risk of esophageal adenocarcinoma.
A standard single slice of regular deli-sliced ham or lunch meat averages around 28 grams, according to USDA data and nutritional tracking databases.
An extra 20 grams of white meat, such as chicken and turkey, was linked to a 12% higher risk of cancer in the main body of the stomach. (iStock)
An extra 20 grams of white meat, such as chicken or turkey, was linked to a 12% higher risk of cancer in the main body of the stomach, the researchers noted.
The study also revealed differences between men and women. For male participants, only processed meat showed a clear, statistically significant link to a higher risk of stomach cancer. For female participants, however, eating both processed meat and white meat was linked to an increased risk.
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These findings align with global health benchmarks, particularly those established by the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer.
The agency has long classified processed meat as a known human carcinogen, primarily due to its strong, well-documented links to colorectal cancer.
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However, health organizations have also consistently pointed to a potential, yet less definitive, relationship between these meats and cancers of the stomach.
Eating 30 grams of processed meat a day, or the equivalent to one slice of ham, was linked to a 13% higher risk of esophageal adenocarcinoma. (iStock)
Further scientific investigation is needed to confirm the findings and to account for other underlying risk factors, such as certain stomach infections, which could interact with dietary habits.
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A key limitation of the study is its reliance on self-reported diets, which can sometimes lead to inaccuracies in how participants recall their meat consumption over time, the researchers noted.
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The findings were published in the International Journal of Cancer.
Fox News Digital reached out to the researchers requesting comment.
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Yoga is known to boost relaxation, strength and flexibility – and now a new study has found the practice could improve cancer survivors’ quality of life.
A randomized trial led by the University of Rochester Medical Center found that a four-week yoga program significantly reduced insomnia, fatigue, anxiety and mood disturbances after cancer treatment.
The findings were presented last week at the 2026 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting in Chicago.
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The study was conducted across multiple U.S. community cancer care sites, including 410 adult cancer survivors averaging 54 years of age. Around 75% were breast cancer survivors, and none of them had practiced yoga regularly within the prior three months.
A randomized trial led by the University of Rochester Medical Center found that a four-week yoga program significantly reduced insomnia, fatigue, anxiety and mood disturbances in cancer survivors. (iStock)
The participants were randomly assigned to two groups. Half of them received only standard survivorship care without the yoga, while the other half received standard care and were also enrolled in the Yoga for Cancer Survivors (YOCAS) program.
As part of the YOCAS program, the survivors completed two instructor-led 75-minute yoga sessions each week, including 18 Gentle Hatha yoga and Restorative yoga poses, breathing exercises and mindfulness training.
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Based on questionnaires completed by the patients, the survivors in the yoga group experienced “moderate-to-large” reductions in overall mood disturbance, “small-to-medium” reductions in anxiety and “medium-to-large” reductions in fatigue, the study found.
The improvements in mood and fatigue appeared to be linked to yoga’s beneficial effect on sleep quality, according to the researchers.
As part of the YOCAS program, the survivors completed two instructor-led 75-minute yoga sessions each week, including 18 Gentle Hatha yoga and Restorative yoga poses, breathing exercises and mindfulness training. (iStock)
“This indicates that cancer survivors have an option to alleviate these cancer-related side effects at the same time, without adding another drug,” lead investigator Yuri Choi, PhD, of the Wilmot Cancer Institute, University of Rochester Medical Center, in Rochester, New York, told Fox News Digital.
The study did not reveal any major safety concerns or serious adverse events related to the yoga practice.
“This indicates that cancer survivors have an option to alleviate these cancer-related side effects at the same time, without adding another drug.”
The study did have some limitations, chiefly that the findings are preliminary and have not yet been peer-reviewed for a medical publication.
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“The sample in our clinical trial was relatively homogeneous, with most participants being women (96%), breast cancer patients (75%), Caucasian (93%), and having some college or higher education (82%),” noted Choi.
“We are adapting our intervention to reach all cancer patients and survivors, including the creation of a mobile app to reach people in rural communities.”
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The research also excluded patients with metastatic cancer (whose disease had spread to other parts of the body).
The total study was only four weeks, so more research is needed to determine long-term benefits.
If the findings are confirmed by peer-reviewed publications, this could lead to recommendations for structured yoga programs as a non-drug supportive therapy for cancer survivors, the researchers noted. (iStock)
If the findings are confirmed by peer-reviewed publications, this could lead to recommendations for structured yoga programs as a non-drug supportive therapy for cancer survivors, the researchers noted.
Some yoga studios may use different names for Gentle Hatha and Restorative yoga, such as Foundations Yoga or Healing Yoga, Choi noted.
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“Survivors should also look for certified yoga instructors who have experience working with cancer patients/survivors or individuals with other challenging health conditions,” the researcher advised. “They should not be afraid to ask their oncology team for referrals to qualified instructors in their community.”
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Choi also noted that the research did not reveal whether other types of yoga, such as heated-room or rigorous-flow yoga, are safe or beneficial for cancer survivors.
The study was funded by the National Cancer Institute.
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