Produced by: Mohsin Shaikh
A seemingly healthy 9-year-old opens her tiffin—and moments later, collapses lifeless. No signs, no symptoms. Just silence. Doctors say it was a cardiac arrest. How can this happen in childhood?
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Prachi Kumawat had no known illness. Yet within seconds, her heart stopped. Cases like hers are so rare that even emergency staff are stunned—and families left with more questions than answers.
She didn’t complain of pain. She didn’t faint. She just fell unconscious. Experts warn: the heart’s electrical system in kids can malfunction without a single red flag. It’s silent—and deadly.
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Long QT. Brugada. WPW. These inherited heart syndromes can lurk undetected for years. In kids, they often show no symptoms—until it’s too late. Could a simple ECG save lives?
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Doctors clarify: this wasn’t a “heart attack” in the adult sense. No clogged arteries. No cholesterol. But the end result was the same—her heart stopped. Fast, final, and devastating.
From viral myocarditis to rare coronary defects, children face a different kind of cardiac danger. Often post-viral. Often unnoticed. And often misdiagnosed—until a tragedy forces attention.
Experts believe survival in cases like Prachi’s hinges on immediate CPR. But most schools aren’t trained. In India, less than 5% of sudden cardiac arrests outside hospitals are survived.
Could subtle symptoms—fatigue, palpitations, dizziness—have been overlooked? Pediatric cardiologists say many kids show quiet signs weeks before an arrest. Most parents just don’t know.
With school screenings, genetic testing, and teacher CPR training, experts argue many of these deaths are avoidable. But in India, awareness is decades behind the science.