AUBURN, MASS. (WHDH) - A 6-year-old boy in Auburn has headed back to class after a health scare on the playground kept him home for more than a month.
Sirens and flashing lights cleared the streets of Auburn to escort Max Skalecki back to school.
When he arrived, his classmates and teachers were waiting for them with their hands in the air.
“I got to give everybody high-fives,” Skalecki said.
It was a pretty unusual carpool, but these emergency crews insisted on it.
Just one month ago, the first-grader collapsed on the playground at his elementary school after his heart stopped.
“It was scary,” said Lukas Skalecki, his brother,” because it’s my only brother, and if I lost him, I’d be lonely.”
The school nurse performed CPR, EMT’s shocked his chest, and police officers and firefighters tended to him. His mother says doctors found his heart was out of rhythm.
Max spent two weeks in the hospital and had both a pacemaker and defibrillator implanted in his chest.
Now stronger and ready to return to class, he wasn’t the only one to get a warm reception — Max gave all of the first responders that helped him “awards.”
It was an emotional morning, filled with pomp and circumstance. But while much has changed, much has thankfully stayed the same.
“I like how he’s misbehaving again,” Lukas said of his brother.
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