In an exclusive for People, a couple from Texas shared the story of their 16-year-old son who was pronounced dead after two hours of CPR, but miraculously, came back to life.
Jennifer and Craig Berko lost their 10-year-old son Frankie when he died suddenly in 2019. Then, in January, they received a call that their older son Sammy had collapsed at the rock climbing gym, where he had gone limp in his harness after reaching the top of the wall. After gym staff lowered him to the ground, a radiologist began to perform CPR. Sammy was rushed to the hospital.
It was there, after nearly two hours of CPR, that doctors pronounced Sammy dead and told Jennifer and Craig to say goodbye to him, just as they had been forced to say goodbye to Frankie.
Jennifer told People that she told Sammy how much she loved him and that she was proud of him. “I prayed,” she said. And then suddenly, Sammy moved.
Initially, doctors thought it was nothing more than a reflex, but then Sammy’s neck began to regain color and his pulse returned. He was rushed to the pediatric ICU.
The next morning, doctors told his parents that Sammy’s organs were shutting down and he was not likely to survive the rest of the day. But Jennifer refused to give up hope.
“That was devastating,” she said. “After watching my son being pronounced dead and brought back to life, I didn’t believe it… I didn’t think he would die.”
She stayed at Sammy’s side, willing him to survive. “I said, ‘Sammy, they’re telling us you’re not going to make it through the next 24 hours. I want you to know that I don’t believe a word of it. I have seen you come back to life. And if you can do that, then I truly believe you are going to pull through. I know you will come back to us. I know you will wake up.”
Within hours, he did just that. “It was miraculous,” said Jennifer.
Sammy spent eight weeks in the hospital and another 58 days in rehabilitation. He had suffered a series of small strokes along with a serious spinal cord injury, but for unknown reasons, his body sent oxygen to his brain and not his spine. He is paralyzed from the waist down, however, he does have “some feeling” and “some muscles firing.” He uses a wheelchair as well as braces and a walker.
“He is literally a miracle,” says Stacey Hall, D.O., pediatric rehabilitation physician with UTHealth Houston and TIRR Memorial Hermann. “He’s truly amazing.”
Sammy has returned to high school full-time and attends therapy five days a week as he aims to walk independently again. And like his mother, he remains hopeful and positive.
“I don’t feel it’s worth it to mope and get stuck in all the bad emotions and everything when at the end of the day I’m here, I’m me,” says Sammy, who still plays basketball with his friends in his wheelchair. “And I’m still pushing and going. I can still use what I have to do the things I love.”
He added, “No matter what happens, you can still find a way to get through it. Everyone’s constantly texting and checking in on me. I feel like all the support has been what’s pushed me to get through everything. That’s helped me a lot.”
Doctors diagnosed Sammy with catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia (CPVT), which can cause sudden arrhythmias in healthy children. DNA testing has revealed that in addition to Sammy, his brother Frankie, whom doctors initially believed had died from epilepsy, also had CPVT as does their mother. She believes it was Frankie who pushed Sammy back to life.
“I pray every night,” she said, “and I talk to Frankie and I tell him, ‘Please continue the work you’re doing in watching over your brother as he works toward a full recovery.’”
Jennifer and Craig now raise awareness for CPVT in order to help other families avoid tragedy.
Texas law allows medical professionals to withdraw live support from patients whom they determine it is “futile” to continue to care for. Though hospitals had previously been allowed to give families just 10 days’ notice to find another medical facility to care for their loved one, that time frame has been extended to 25 days before life support is removed.
One child caught in the trappings of the law was Baby Tinslee, who was able to be sent home with her family in 2022 after a Texas hospital attempted to turn off her life support against her family’s wishes. In 2019, doctors said she would not survive and therefore, they would remove her life support. A lengthy legal battle ensued, and despite the odds, Tinslee survived.
Both Sammy and Tinslee prove that there is always hope even when doctors say otherwise.
