A Vergennes, VT girl gets a second chance at life.
In fact, her doctors are so amazed, they're calling this one an "uber save."
Payton Jones circled her home and tore up some grass in the process with her pink go-cart. She's adventurous as any 11-year old would be. That's why it's hard to imagine what happened two months ago.
"I was swimming and I flipped onto my back, and my eyes rolled back," Payton said.
"And when they pulled her out, she didn't have a pulse. She started turning blue within minutes," Payton's mom Cathy Jones echoed.
Payton's last regular swim meet of the season, turned into a life changing summer day.
"I couldn't understand it, it couldn't seem like it could be happening," Cathy said. But Payton doesn't remember anything.
Her mom says, her daughter was defibrillated 13 times (four in the ambulance, and nine more at Fletcher Allen Health Care.
A doctor says her heart was mis-firing, due to sudden, physical stress, like swimming. Payton's mom can only pronounce the diagnosis by it's initials, CVPT, it stands for catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia. Payton had heart surgery five weeks ago.
She had a scar that reveals a device that'll keep her heart in rhythm.
"It will shock me if anything happens again," Payton said.
In Payton's bedroom, a machine that gets a read out from her device once a week, it keeps her doctors informed. It's also where she keeps the many Vermont teddy bears, and balloons from friends, she got in the hospital.
Payton's condition is genetic, it occurs in one out of 10-thousand people. It also means her sister, and parents will need genetic testing.
Payton, her friends and family are walking in the Vermont Heart Walk Sunday, Sept. 30th.
You can still register.
Lauren Maloney and Tara Madison from Star 92.9, are emceeing the event.
Chelsea Ingram will be singing the national anthem, in her role as Miss Vermont.
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