Apple Watch Heart Rate Monitor Alert Saves Teen’s Life
An 18-year-old Deanna Recktenwald of the Tampa area is praising the Apple Watch for saving her life when she suffered a medical episode at The Crossing Church in Brandon. According to ABC News, the seemingly healthy teen saw a warning appear on her Apple Watch notifying that her resting heart rate had reached 190 beats per minute.

“I didn’t know what was going on at all and it was just out of the blue,” said Deanna. Her mother Stacey Recktenwald, who is a registered nurse and did not initially question the accuracy of the watch’s reading said, “It was alarming that the watch was telling us to seek medical attention. I didn’t even know that it had the capability of giving us that alert.”
After rushing her to the emergency room, doctors at Tampa General Hospital soon discovered Deanna suffers from chronic kidney disease. Both her kidneys are operating at only 20% and she will likely require a future transplant.
Stacey wrote the following to Apple thanking the tech giant for its life-saving feature.

CEO Tim Cook responded by thanking the Lithia family for sharing their story.
Stories like Deanna’s inspire us to dream bigger and push harder every day. https://t.co/O7xJ9n1MHg
— Tim Cook (@tim_cook)

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She is a registered nurse and still she waited a few hours before taking steps… even after double-checking the watch and taking the pressure herself! WT? Please don’t be my nurse!
Yes also it’s not even the Apple watch you can get brands 10 times cheaper that would still have saved her life.
you can get a 30 dollar band?
I am in the market for a smart watch can you tell me which other brand of smart watch offers the same functionality? Sounding an alarm when my heart rate fluctuates this? It is good to have alternative. So far I have not found another brand that can do this – at least to the same degree of accuracy that i can trust with my health.
I’m glad you are not my parent. That’s scary.
I am glad that YOU are not a nurse. I would trust her over YOU any day when it comes to medical stuff.
If it was YOUR kid with a 160 hearbeat, YOU would still wait at home and not go right away at the hospital?
That was such an open ended statement, it is almost not worth further discussion. Think about your own statement, no other details were given, no semblance on a complete picture of the situation, how can anyone make the correct call! Do you routinely criticize your friends and family on how they should care for their kids? Do you know their situation enough to say something relevant ? Do you tell them “Please dont be a parent”? Do you know the situation of the article enough to make a call, ETC ETC…
I agree with you @johnnygoodface on the mother’s actions. I can’t stand to be told you’re “clinically fine” because you show no physical symptoms. I hate dealing with those nurses. My daughter was jumping up and down in the hospital room looking perfect and energetic with an oxygen blood saturation of 80. I was told by the RN in the “old days” she’d be sent home because she was not turning blue. If blood oxygen levels drop to 70 your heart can just stop. My daughter is barely 7. It took 6 days and 5 nights in the hospital. she did not look sick but needed 15 litres of oxygen a night to sleep safely. But this girl has a racing pulse for no reason and a couple hours later???scary mommy and nurse