A 12-year-old girl from Akureyri, north Iceland, Helga Sigrídur Sigurdardóttir, lost consciousness in the locker room after a swimming lesson with her class on Wednesday. It is believed that she had a heart attack in the swimming pool.
From the Akureyri swimming pool. The photo is not directly related to the story. By Páll Stefánsson.
She was flown to the Landspítali national hospital in Reykjavík where she was treated at the intensive care unit and yesterday she was taken to Gothenburg, Sweden, where she is connected to an artificial heart, Fréttabladid reports.
“The flight went really well and no complications arose, but Helga Sigrídur will remain connected to the artificial heart while hers is healing because it is severely damaged. It is a marathon but a heart transplant, to give her an entirely new heart, is not necessarily the next step,” said her uncle, Jón Gísli Egilsson.
“Her parents have arrived and I expect the closest relatives will take turns staying with her,” Egilsson added.
Helga Sigrídur was feeling unwell during the swimming lesson and asked to leave the pool. In the locker room she threw up and shortly afterwards she lost consciousness.
A charity collection in support of her family has been launched (the account number is 0565-26-110378 and the identification number 180470-3449).
