Learning to trust your child’s health in the hands of others can be tough for a parent . It’s scary, what if someone’s to make a mistake that ends up fatal and there’s nothing you can do about it?
A scare like that is what happened to one mother in Boston who had to beg her son’s school to call an ambulance for him after they refused to believe his claims that he was having a stroke.
A Boston mother is in disbelief after her son’s school chose to call her in an emergency.
D’Andre Hicks is a 17-year-old student at Henderson Inclusion School who had a stroke while in class earlier this month. His mother, Alishia, was ill at the time and thus at home. She reported that the school nurse called her and asked her to pick her son up because they did not believe D’Andre was having a stroke.
Their family has a history of strokes, so she begged the nurse to call an ambulance.
“‘Your professional eye may not see the stroke’,” Hicks reported herself as saying, “‘It’s not visible, but if he’s telling you he is weak on his left side, please,’ at this point, I’m pleading with all intensity that I could muster up with no voice. ‘Please get my son to the hospital, please.'”
It took the school over a half-hour to agree to call 911.
D’Andre was then transferred to a local hospital and received treatment. He would later tell his mother, “I can’t believe they didn’t believe me.”
Thankfully, D’Andre appears to have recovered just fine from the stroke and is doing well. Alicia knew she would not have been able to make it to the school on time as her illness has left her wheelchair-bound.
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A number of higher-ups have responded.
The school’s superintendent, Brenda Cassellius, has apparently apologized to the family for what happened, while the district released a statement that stated their “concern is first with the health and well-being of this student.”
“We are glad to hear he is recovering well,” the statement read, “This serious incident is being reviewed by appropriate BPS staff, and therefore it would be inappropriate to comment further on this specific matter.”
Alicia is hoping the school can answer for more, though.
“Even I know the symptoms of a stroke. Why didn’t the nurse? So that’s what I would want the school department to emphasize better training,” she told CBS News.
And while D’Andre is well, he no longer feels safe at his school given that they didn’t believe his claims of it being a stroke beforehand, so questions regarding his academic future there hang in the air.
h/t: Insider
