Apple Watch has once again proved to be more than just a smartwatch, saving the life of a 16-year-old on a ski trip. A San Diego news anchor tells how Apple Watch helped diagnose the potentially fatal high-altitude pulmonary edema for his 16-year-old son.
Marcella Lee, an anchor on CBS 8 news channel, recalls the incident when the whole family went to Colorado for a skiing trip. While the family has been on skiing trips and experienced high altitude issues before, her son was having a hard time accumulating to the high altitude this time.
"We took ibuprofen and drank a lot of water to stay hydrated and figured it would just take a couple of days to acclimate," Lee said. "By Friday morning, my 16 year old son said he didn't feel well enough to ski." told Marcella Lee.
Marcella adds further, "By nighttime when I checked on my son, I noticed his lips were a bit blue and so were his fingertips," she continued. "It was dark and it was late and I couldn't really tell if I was seeing things, if he really was blue."
Apple Watch Series 7 (GPS + Cellular)
Apple Watch measures blood-oxygen levels accurately as medical-grade equipment
Upon seeing this condition of her son, Marcella took out her Apple Watch, which has a feature to measure oxygen saturation (SpO2). "I quickly put the watch on my son and as those seconds counted down, what popped up was frightening 66% oxygen saturation."
She immediately took her son to a local emergency room, where the medical-grade equipment confirmed that her son’s oxygen saturation level was at 67 per cent, just a 1 per cent difference from what Apple Watch had shown.
Tests confirmed fluid was building up in her son’s lung, and he was diagnosed with HAPE (High Altitude Pulmonary Edema). Which, if not treated immediately, can be life-threatening. The medical staff told Marcella if she had waited and let her son sleep, the boy could have gone into a coma.
Now, her son remains fine and has joined back school.