Young East Texas athlete’s heart stops after being hit in chest with baseball

BULLARD, Texas (KLTV) - Tyson Hernandez is a nine-year-old boy living in Bullard. His mother, Brittani Hernandez says he’s been playing baseball since he was three.

“He plays in select baseball, and he plays in the recreational here in Bullard. We’ve even picked up some games in Jacksonville, different teams. Anywhere he can play, we almost do it year-round,” Brittani said.

On opening day, in the first inning, Tyson was on second base attempting to steal third. He was sliding, feet first, when he was hit in the chest with the ball. Tyson’s dad Armando Hernandez Jr. is one of his coaches and went over to help him back over to the bench.

“He took maybe one or two steps and he collapsed on his knees. He made a big sigh and he fell down to his knees. We flipped him over I was trying to talk to him a bit and he wasn’t really responding. I heard someone say we have no pulse and I kind of lost it there,” Armando said.

Several coaches who are in the medical field began performing chest compressions.10 compressions were administered before his pulse came back.

“All I heard was ‘he’s back,’ and so I went back over there, you know he was definitely dazed and confused,” Armando said.

EMS arrived withing 10 minutes of getting the call and took him to a local hospital. From there, he was transferred to Children’s Medical Center in Dallas.

They ran tests and everything came back normal. Brittani says it wasn’t until they were back home that they got the diagnosis of commotio cordis.

“It’s an injury to the chest that throws the heart out of rhythm. Unless there is immediate CPR or shock from an AED usually the person doesn’t come out of the rhythm and it could be fatal. The first thing that came to our mind was Damar Hamlin,” Brittani said.

Hamlin is a football safety for the Buffalo Bills. He was diagnosed with the same thing on the field following a now viral play in January of 2023.

Even though their preventative use has not been entirely conclusive, the family is pushing for chest plates to be worn by young athletes. Medical experts agree there are certain benefits. Tyson thinks so, too.

“I think people should wear it, so it doesn’t happen the same thing,” Tyson said.

As well as having AEDS at youth sporting events.

“Just to bring awareness that it can happen to anyone’s kid; it is very important to us, because Tyson’s our only child. We were one second away from not being parents anymore,” Brittani said.

Tyson has been checked out by a cardiologist and is clear to play again. He will play his first game back tomorrow, His parents say he will never play without a chest plate again.

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