Terrifying Moment 11-Year-Old Boy Suffers Stroke A...

Terrifying Moment 11-Year-Old Boy Suffers Stroke After Being Hit by Soccer Ball — His Plea to Mom Breaks Hearts

Cole Ditmore was rushed to Our Lady of the Lake St. Elizabeth Hospital in Louisiana after the incident in his school playground

An 11-year-old boy is recovering from a stroke that he suffered after a “freak accident” at his school in Louisiana.

Cole Ditmore was standing in his school playground with a marker in his mouth when a soccer ball accidentally hit him six months ago. The impact of the ball shoved “the marker into the back of his throat,” his mother, Angelina Frazier, told local outlet WAFB.

Frazier was initially concerned that Ditmore had suffered a concussion when she brought him to Our Lady of the Lake St. Elizabeth Hospital. Doctors then found a “small puncture hole” in his throat from the marker, as well as symptoms of experiencing a stroke.

While being checked by an ENT [ear, nose, and throat specialist], Ditmore “started slurring his words, half of his facial muscles started drooping, and he struggled to move his left arm,” Frazier told WAFB.

Ambulance (stock image).Getty

The child was “immediately” treated under stroke protocol by doctors when the health issue was determined. Ditmore was then transported to Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center’s Heart & Vascular Institute, where he spent four days in the Pediatric ICU, per WAFB.

Doctors discovered that the marker in Ditmore’s throat had compressed his carotid artery, creating a blood clot which led to the stroke.

“The first thing I remember was waking up around 11 or 12 and seeing my dad and my mom just all there, and I hear them talking, but I couldn’t respond and I couldn’t talk,” Ditmore told the outlet.

Police car lights (stock image).Getty

“The first thing he said to me, he was like, ‘Mom, am I going to die?’ ” said Frazier, who at the time was not sure of her son’s chances of recovery.

Ditmore has since made significant progress in his recovery with six months of physical therapy and other treatments.

“We were where we were supposed to be when we needed to be, because had he not presented the stroke in front of the ENT, they wouldn’t have been able to act as quickly as they did,” Frazier told WAFB.

Ditmore is still experiencing some issues following the stroke, having to reduce doing sports and other physical activities while being on blood thinners.

“I’ve been trying my best to get back to my normal self. I don’t know if I can, but I hope I can,” the 11-year-old told the outlet.