A six-year-old boy was saved by his quick-thinking mother after he went into cardiac arrest in the middle of a baseball game.
Oscar Stuebe suffered commotio cordis, the same rare condition that nearly killed NFL player Damar Hamlin, when he was hit by a baseball on March 10.
His mother, Sarah Stuebe, ran to the field and, along with another parent, performed CPR, which must be administered within three minutes.
Oscar was replacing his seven-year-old brother’s Little League team in Lake Worth, Florida, when he tried to catch a fly ball in center field but was hit in the chest.
Oscar Stuebe suffered commotio cordis after being hit in the chest by a baseball
Oscar’s mother, Sarah Stuebe (right), performed CPR on him on the field and saved his life after his father Riley (left) called her.
He immediately fell to the ground and his father Riley ran to help.
“At first, it looked like he was knocked out, but within seconds, Riley and the other coaches on the field realized it was more serious,” Sarah wrote online.
Panicking, Riley called his wife and she dialed 911 before handing her phone to a friend to explain the situation and running to her son.
“I’ll never forget the way Riley screamed my name,” he wrote.
Sarah, who is a nurse, saw that Oscar was having a seizure and struggling to breathe, and neither she nor Riley could find a pulse.
‘Everything was rigid. He had stiff fingers, stiff hands, stiff arms. You could tell he wasn’t in control of his body,” Riley said. NBC.
Sarah added: ‘He was left lifeless. Her eyes were rolled into the back of her head. She turned gray. She started to pant.
Oscar was rushed to St Mary’s Medical Center and after five days was allowed to return home.
Oscar playing baseball in another game last year
His mother began CPR for about two minutes before one of the parents from the game in the neighboring field took over until paramedics arrived.
Oscar was rushed to St Mary’s Medical Center and woke up delirious and hallucinating the next day and did not sleep again until 5pm the next day.
‘Apparently, sleep was the best medicine. She woke up and said, “Hi, Mom!” And it was him,” Sarah said.
Oscar’s parents didn’t get out of bed and were still in the clothes they wore to the baseball game two days earlier.
After a few days of physical therapy, he was released from the hospital and sent home, where Sarah’s family had come to care for Oscar’s three siblings.
Oscar is back to his old self, and he and his siblings will wear chest pads every time they play, even if it’s just in the backyard.
Sarah said baseball and lacrosse were the two sports with the highest risk for commotio cordis, and that all kids who play should use them.
Buffalo Bills player Damar Hamlin nearly died from the same condition when he was hit in the chest while making a tackle against the Cincinnati Bengals on January 2, 2023.
Like Oscar, Hamlin’s life was saved after receiving CPR on the field and he returned to the NFL last season.
This extremely rare condition only occurs when the heart is hit hard enough during a 40 millisecond window in the cardiac cycle.
CPR must be administered in about three minutes or the patient will only have a five percent chance of surviving.
“As a lacrosse player for most of my life and current coach, I’ve seen this happen a time or two,” one commenter wrote on Sarah’s Instagram post.
“One time I was able to walk over to my teammate and start CPR, the other time another player and one of my parents started.”
Sarah encouraged all parents to get CPR training so they could be prepared if something similar happened.