When you think of people dying from a heat stroke, you think of small children, the elderly, or people who are sick.
But 18-year-old Elijah Mikel was a healthy non-verbal autistic teen when he died after suffering a heat stroke.
Now his mom is warning others about the dangers of heat exhaustion. Kansas mom Rachel Mikel says her son would often go outside in the summer for walks and to swim.
It was a hot summer day when Elijah’s caregiver took him for a walk on a nature trail they frequent.
It was around 102 degrees that day with a heat index of 110 degrees.
But after about 15 minutes of being outside Elijah’s caregiver started to notice that Elijah was acting strangely. He couldn’t tell her was wrong since he was non-verbal.
Still, she could see that something wasn’t right.
“She called me and said, ‘Something’s not right. He sat down and won’t get back up,'” Rachel told WTXL.
Rachel thought Elijah was just being stubborn but something told her it was more than that so she rushed over to the park to see what was going on.
“By the time I got there and saw him, I knew that it wasn’t a nap. I knew something was wrong,” she said.
Elijah was suffering from a heat stroke after his temperature reached 108 degrees.
EMTs rushed Elijah to the hospital. They tried to lower his temperature to no available. Elijah ended up passing away leaving his mother in total shock.
“I remember looking at the nurse saying, ‘Why? He was just hot. He was just hot,'” Rachel said.
Dr. Steve Lauer of the University of Kansas Health System Associate Chair of Pediatrics explained that heat exhaustion can rapidly wear the body’s muscles down, including the heart.
“Being outside in the heat… it really is hard on the body. No matter what age you are, you can get overheated very quickly, and the move from heat exhaustion to heat stroke can happen a whole lot faster than many people appreciate,” he said .
“Drink water. Take a break. Go inside. This is not a joke. This is not something that happens to other people. This is real. He was 18 and fairly healthy. So, just be cautious,” Rachel said.
The Mayo Clinic says that heat exhaustion can occur suddenly or over time and symptoms include:
- Cool, moist skin with goose bumps when in the heat
- Heavy sweating
- Faintness
- Dizziness
- Fatigue
- Weak, rapid pulse
- Low blood pressure upon standing
- Muscle cramps
- Nausea
- Headache
If you experience these symptoms in the heat it’s important to stop all physical activity and rest, move to a cooler place, drink cool water or sports drink.
If someone begins to show signs of confusion or agitation or loses consciousness or is unable to drink, immediately seek medical attention as they may be having a heat stroke.
Urgent medical attention is needed once the body’s temperature reaches 104 degrees or higher with a rectal thermometer.
“He was such a bright light. He made such fun noises and got joy out of the simplest things,” Rachel told FOX 61. “I want to stress the autism didn’t define him. He was special regardless. You just never know somebody else’s story. We often had people stare and look and watch us and sometimes have people comment, ‘can’t you keep your kid quiet?’ And I think something I want everyone to know is you just don’t know other people’s stories and how hard we worked just to get him to say two or three words. It was a challenge we lived with, but it made us love him more and it made us realize how precious life was.”
Donations are being made to Lawrence Humane Society and Autism Speaks in memory of Elijah.
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