[ A brave young man. I wish him well. ]

From: https://shorturl.at/uN1mP (dailycaller.com)

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16-Year-Old California Teen Stays Awake During Heart Surgery

John Oyewale Contributor
February 21, 2025 4:55 PM ET

A Northern California teenager earned praise from a doctor after his
courageous decision to stay awake during heart surgery helped the doctor
and his team find the heart tissue responsible for the teen's abnormal
heartbeats.

Eian Long, 16, was diagnosed with arrhythmia - abnormal heartbeats -
during an annual health check a few years ago while he and his Air Force
family lived in New Jersey. Further tests revealed Long had ventricular
tachycardia - a potentially life-threatening arrhythmia in which a rapid
electrical signal from the heart's ventricles causes abnormally fast
heartbeats, according to a Jan. 31 statement by the Stanford Medicine
Children's Health (SMCH).

The diagnosis came to Long's parents as "a complete surprise" as Long
"didn't have any symptoms," Long's mom, Price, said, according to the
SMCH's statement.

Long's case became the SMCH's once his family moved to Roseville,
California. There, experts found that neither a structural heart problem
nor genetics caused Long's tachycardia, according to the SMCH.

Long chose to begin with medication in his discussion of treatment options
with the SMCH's electrophysiology team.

"We tried several medications, but none of them worked to control his
rhythm. His arrhythmia was severe, with 25% of his heartbeats being
abnormal and numerous runs of ventricular tachycardia," says Dr. Scott
Ceresnak, director of the SMCH's Pediatric Electrophysiology and
Arrhythmia Program.

As Long's heart function worsened and the risk of heart failure loomed,
Long then chose to undergo ablation - a surgical procedure that involves
passing a catheter through a major blood vessel in the leg up to the
heart, where doctors would then burn or freeze the faulty tissue aided by
advanced mapping technology. (RELATED: Jimmy Kimmel Opens Up About Young
Son's 3rd Open Heart Surgery)

Unlike most child patients, Long opted to stay awake throughout the
three-hour surgery - a decision that helped his doctors find the faulty
tissue.

"With sedation, extra beats can also go to sleep, so it can be harder to
locate the heart tissue that is generating the arrhythmia," Dr. Ceresnak
said. "Eian decided he wanted to stay awake to keep the extra beats going
and help me find the location. And it helped, no question."

Long "handled it like a champ, staying still and expressing his needs as
they went along," despite the abnormally functioning heart tissue being in
an unusual location that made the surgery challenging, the SMCH said.

"Having tachycardia in the coronary cusp is rare and can be serious, as in
Eian's case, it led to the heart not functioning as it should," Dr.
Ceresnak said.

The procedure was successful, according to the SMCH. Dr. Ceresnak
administered mild sedation to Long to help him rest.

"He woke up panicked and said, `I'm sorry I fell asleep! I tried so hard.'
He was relieved to hear he had done it," Price said.

Long's extra heartbeats fell from 25% to zero after the procedure, Dr.
Ceresnak said. Six months following the procedure, Long still has zero
tachycardia, suggesting he might have become cured for life as a relapse
often happened soon after surgery in cases when it happened, according to
the SMCH.

Long, a top Roblox player due to his unusual powers of recall, loves math,
physics, and sports, the SMCH said.

"We call him ESPN because you can ask him anything about sports and he
knows the answers," his dad, Brandon, said. "You don't have to look up -
just ask Eian."
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