Family seeks answers after 12-year-old suffers heart attack, baffling doctors

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV/Gray News) – A Tennessee family says doctors have no idea why their son, who they said was in excellent health and active, suffered a heart attack at age 12 and was hospitalized with significant brain damage.

Sammy Silverman, now 13, was supposed to be in eighth grade at Blackman Middle School in Murfreesboro. Instead, he and his parents, Adam and Janette Silverman, have been at Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital in Nashville for the past six weeks, WSMV reports.

Sammy's parents say doctors still don't know why their son, who they say was in excellent health and active, suffered a heart attack at age 12.

“You never think, 'Hey, this is going to happen to my child,'” Janette Silverman said. “Then it happens.”

Sammy's parents say it started in July when he caught a stomach virus. Almost two days later, everyone thought he was better.

“He collapsed before my eyes,” said Adam Silverman.

Sammy went into cardiac arrest and his father performed CPR until paramedics arrived. Paramedics told Sammy's parents that they lost his pulse four times on the way to the hospital.

“It's so frustrating. He was a happy, healthy 12-year-old boy,” Janette Silverman said.

The most frustrating thing is that the doctors are just as confused as they are, say the Silvermans.

“They don’t know why my son is in this situation,” said Adam Silverman.

Sammy was transferred to Vanderbilt, where a once grim prognosis has turned into miraculous progress. He was placed on a ventilator but is now breathing on his own.

“He took his first breaths on his own. It was incredible,” said Janette Silverman. “I knew that day he was going to be OK.”

Because Sammy suffered severe brain damage, his long-term prognosis is unclear. Doctors have warned his parents that he may never walk or talk again, according to a GoFundMe campaign for the family.

The Silvermans now hope to transfer Sammy to the Shepherd Center in Atlanta, which specializes in rehabilitation for traumatic brain injuries.

“We're home with our three girls and it's like part of our family is missing because he's not with us,” Janette Silverman said. “Whatever he is, I just want him with us. And he will be.”

Six weeks after an inexplicable incident, the family sticks together and is ready to do anything to bring Sammy back home.

“My family is everything,” said Adam Silverman. “Without family, you don't have much.”

The Silvermans are in a financial pinch with Sammy's medical bills. To cover the costs, they have started their GoFundMe campaign.

Since her son's hospitalization, Janette Silverman had to give up her job, which was her only source of income after her husband's stroke. Both parents take Uber from Murfreesboro to Nashville every day to be with their son, as they do not have their own car.

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