13-year-old Skylar Joslin was sitting in class when his Apple Watch detected a heart rate of 190 beats-per-minute. His mom, Liz, praises the smartwatch for saving her son’s life. She told local news outlet KFOR:
“I got a text message along with a screenshot of his heart rate that was 190, and the following message saying, ‘Mommy, there’s something wrong. I’m not doing anything.’”
Liz was quick to go pick up her son from school and rush him to the hospital. During the drive to the emergency room, Skylar’s heart rate got to 202 bpm and even as high as 280 bpm while at the hospital.
Fortunately, the boy received medical care in time, and doctors diagnosed him with supraventricular tachycardia, or SVT, which is a disease that forces the heart to speed up. Skylar then endured a seven and a half hour cardiac ablation to help fix his heart’s rhythm.
Liz congratulates herself for getting her son an Apple Watch just two months before the incident.“If I wouldn’t have gotten his Apple Watch, I don’t know that I would’ve ever known. I mean it’s unknown how long it would’ve been going on or how long it would’ve really taken,” Liz said.
On April 25, Skylar will be the face of the Oklahoma American Heart Association Heart Walk.