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Crucifix takes jolt as girl, 10, survives
(by Sue Hoffman - December 17, 2008)
Crucifix takes jolt as girl, 10, survives
By SUE HOFFMAN
A metal crucifix has been credited with miraculously saving the life of a 10-year-old girl from Chester.
"She's one of the few stories where someone was electrocuted and lived," Loriann Suglia, said of her daughter, Gianna. "It's a miracle she's alive." Doctors at Hillcrest Hospital in Mayfield Heights marveled at how the crucifix saved Gianna, who received an electric shock from a 110-volt live extension cord while trying to connect it to the plug of a boombox, she said. "The doctors said a 300-pound man could be killed by 110 volts."
"My cross saved me," Gianna, a fourth-grader at St. Anselm School in Chester, said of the incident that occurred two days before Thanksgiving. "Electricity came out of my cross from the inside."
Gianna said the blurred vision which she experienced immediately after the ordeal has subsided. She still has some neck and back pain, she said. "The doctor said it would still hurt for a couple of weeks."
According to mother and daughter, Gianna and her brother, Sonny, 5, were going to dance in her room around 3:30 p.m. that day, which Gianna had off from school.
"I told my brother to bring the CD player from downstairs," Gianna said. When Sonny put it down on her chair, he didn't see the full cup of water there, she said. "It spilled all over the place. I got paper towels and dried it all off."
Then she flipped the compact disc player over, took out the batteries and dried them off, she said. She put them back into the player but decided they might not work. So she unplugged her Christmas tree from an extension cord and started to plug in the CD player. "I saw a gray bubble and it went boom," she said.
She ran to her mother and asked if she heard the noise. "I asked her if I was on fire," Gianna said.
"When I got zapped, I didn't feel pain, but my eyes were blurring," Gianna said. "It hit my eyes too."
The electric shock "immediately blackened both of her hands" with a sooty substance, Mrs. Suglia said. "She acted as a conductor." The shock traveled up her arms and both shoulders to her chest and eyes, she said. "It came out on the cross and blew off part of Jesus' hand." There were black marks on her chest and shirt, which she wore over the cross, she said.
Mrs. Suglia said she took Gianna's vital signs, which were normal. She alerted her husband, William, and called the doctor, who said to keep Gianna home and observe her. However, when Gianna started to complain of blurred vision and some neck pain, Mrs. Suglia drove her to Hillcrest Hospital's pediatric emergency room in Mayfield Heights.
"I brought the shirt and crucifix to the hospital," Mrs. Suglia said. "At first I thought the crucifix was burned by the wire, but the doctors in emergency said the electricity came out of her. The burn mark on the shirt was from the inside out," she said.
"If she wouldn't have had it on, she would have been dead," Mrs. Suglia said of the cross. Instead of being attracted to the metal of the crucifix, the electricity would have centered on her heart, she said.
After arriving at the hospital, the pediatric emergency room physician, in consultation with trauma physicians and pediatric cardiologists, treated Gianna. "They said she was lucky to be alive," Mrs. Suglia said.
At first, they noted an irregular heartbeat and were concerned about heart damage, she said. However, the irregular beats subsided, she said, and the last electrocardiogram was normal. After 12 hours of being in emergency, hooked up to a heart monitor, Gianna was released.
Doctors told the Suglias to watch for cataracts, which could result from the trauma to the eyes that Gianna had experienced. They advised Mrs. Suglia to have Gianna seen by a pediatric cardiologist for follow-up care.
Mrs. Suglia said she learned that Gianna's neck and back pain could possibly indicate muscle damage.
"We threw away the boombox but kept the crucifix," Mrs. Suglia said. "We'll get her crucifix fixed, because it saved her life. Had she not had metal on, the electricity would have stayed in her heart."
Gianna, who loves swimming, dogs and horseback riding, said she learned her lesson that water and electricity make a dangerous combination.
However, Mrs. Suglia said she's still puzzled over how it happened. "The crazy part was it wasn't sitting in a pool of water," she said of the boombox. "There were just a few drops of water on the cord," she said.
"We hope other parents learn from this. Even a few drops of water around electricity can take a life."
Mrs. Suglia said her daughter's name, which means "God is gracious," is fitting, considering the events which have taken place. "She must have nine lives," she said.
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