Charlie Vincent, 20, had a heart attack and a stroke after suffering severe sunburn (Picture: PA)
A British university student ‘died for 25 minutes’ after he suffered severe sunburn that uncovered an undetected heart condition.
Charlie Vincent was on his first day working as a canoeing teacher at a summer camp in New Hampshire, in the US, when sun exposure left him with second-degree burns on his legs.
Camp leaders took the 20-year-old to a hospital where it was found he also had patches of pneumonia on his lungs.
Charlie, a film student at De Montford University in Leicester, was operated on for the respiratory infection but his family said that during surgery he suffered a cardiac arrest, a mini-stroke and his heart stopped for 25 minutes.
Charlie’s 24-year-old sister, Emily, said doctors discovered Charlie had an enlarged heart, also known as cardiomegaly, which causes the heart to work harder than normal.
Doctors suspect he could have had the condition since birth, but it took ‘something like a respiratory infection’ for it to present itself.
He spent around a week in an induced coma, with medics fearing he would need an urgent organ transplant for his heart and both kidneys.
Charlie pictured in hospital with his mum, Sue (Picture: Handout/PA Real Life)
But after a ‘miracle’ recovery, this may no longer be required – although he may still need a heart transplant at a ‘much later date’, said Emily.
Charlie, from Irthlingborough, Northamptonshire, and his parents, Joe and Sue, were due to fly back to the UK on Thursday to continue his recovery closer to home at Northampton General Hospital.
Emily, who stayed in the UK while her parents kept her updated on her brother’s progress, thought at one point he was going to die.
Speaking before the family had returned to the UK, she said: ‘It was absolutely heartbreaking, it was hell.
‘It’s definitely a miracle that he’s still here, I think the hospital he has been in has given him the most amazing care and without that, I don’t think he would have made it.’
Emily added that she was ‘so excited’ to see her brother ‘the minute’ he arrives in the UK, but mentioned the family may require financial help for the cost of his treatment and additional travel expenses.
The university student is making a good recovery (Picture: Handout/PA Real Life)
His insurance will over up to $500,000 dollars (around £390,000) but the the family don’t yet know how much the US treatment will cost.
After spending a few weeks at the camp setting up for the intake, Charlie started his duties on July 1, until things ‘deteriorated quickly’ when he was sunburnt.
‘I think on the first day it was, he got sunburnt really badly and he had second-degree burns all over his legs,’ said Emily, a cabler for telecom company Openreach.
‘Over the next few days he got worse, he must have had heatstroke and started to feel really poorly.’
Emily said doctors were unsure how Charlie had contracted pneumonia but suspect his undetected heart condition had been made worse by the respiratory infection, causing a heart attack during surgery, which prompted the mini-stroke.
She described Charlie as always being ‘a healthy boy’.
‘He’s never showed any issues with his heart before, so it was just crazy to us for him to deteriorate so quickly.’
Charlie had been ‘desperate to get out there’ to be with him, but it was decided her parents would go alone.
Charlie’s sister Emily says it’s a ‘miracle’ her brother is still here (Picture: Handout/PA Real Life)
She added: ‘My brother and me, we’re almost like twins – even though there’s a four-year age gap – he’s like my best mate.
‘He is my rock and he always has been, so it was very difficult to think of a life without Charlie.
‘It’s just been heartbreaking, the entire situation.’
Emily said the fact her brother was deemed well enough to fly home was ‘really positive’, adding: ‘It has been a miracle in terms of how quickly he’s made a turnaround and the care the hospital has given has been incredible.’
‘He missed two lots of dialysis because his kidneys seem to be working much better by themselves now so they are hoping this is his kidneys restarting and they’re also hoping that his heart is starting to work a lot better by itself.
;He was initially walking around with a Zimmer frame but as of Tuesday, he did a few steps by himself so he’s getting stronger each day.
‘He’s got four medications that he will have to take for his heart which should control whatever is happening – the doctors have said that maybe at a much later date he will need a heart transplant.’
The family have set up a GoFundMe page to help with the cost of Charlie’s treatment and travel costs for his parents, which had raised more than £13,000 by the start of August.
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