A pacemaker is keeping a 3-year-old South Florida boy's heart beating after he went into cardiac arrest during a trip to a water park over the July 4 weekend.
Little Jayden Saul, of Pembroke Pines, was with his family at Rapids Water Park in Palm Beach County on the Fourth when his water slide fun nearly turned fatal.
The toddler had already gone down a slide once and was climbing up the stairs for another ride when he suddenly went into cardiac arrest.
Water park EMTs worked quickly to keep Jayden alive, performing CPR and using a defibrillator on him. He was rushed to nearby St. Mary's Medical Center for further treatment, but went into cardiac arrest twice more.
A St. Mary's cardiologist contacted the cardiac team at Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital in Hollywood, and Jayden was transferred there.
After evaluating the youngster, a pediatric electrophysiologist determined Jayden had congenital arrhythmia.
The next day, Little Jayden had the pacemaker implanted.
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While children generally aren't associated with pacemakers -- the average age of folks who have them is around 70 -- it's nothing new for kids Jayden's age and younger who have arrhythmia to have one implanted.
A spokesperson for the hospital said Jayden is responding well and is expected to be discharged from the hospital and able to go home in the next 24 hours.
Jayden's mom, Neffretti, and his doctor, Dr. Ming-Lon Young, were expected to hold a news conference Friday to discuss Jayden's condition.
