The Apple Watch has proved to be a lifesaver once again, this time saving a Florida teen by detecting a chronic disorder of the kidney early enough.
Things started when the teen, Deanna Recktenwald by name saw her resting heart beat rate zoom to an abnormally high 190 BPM. She said she didn’t feel anything grossly wrong with her except for a headache as well as some panting for breath.
Deanna’s mother, a registered nurse, took her to a walk-in clinic for a preliminary checkup where the Apple Watch finding was found to be perfect. That prompted them to transfer Deanna to the Tampa General Hospital on an emergency basis for a more elaborate check-up.
It was at the Tampa General Hospital where doctors found Deanna suffering from a chronic disease of the kidney. In fact, it was a clear case of kidney failure by the time Deanna was taken to the hospital. Doctors said Deanna had just 20 percent of her kidneys working when she was hospitalized and will require both her kidneys transplanted soon.
Deanna is not known to have had any previous instances of any issues with either her heart or the kidney. This makes the timely detection life-saving stuff for her as she otherwise wouldn’t have thought she has such a huge problem with her kidneys.
As a mark of gratitude, Deanna wrote to Apple CEO Tim Cook to thank him for making a device that helped her save daughter’s life. Cook too responded to her personally expressing how inspiring it is for them to know one of their creation has gone on to save a teen’s life.
Apple has also been vigorously pushing for an expanded role for its Apple Watch that would see the device evolve into a dependable health monitoring system. The company also got into active collaborations with several health organizations to develop sensors with the aim to pick up vital health signs early enough to predict several major ailments of the body.
Deanna’s instance is proof enough such efforts are paying dividends.
