It was a fentanyl overdose that the young son of a California tech giant discovered while crawling around a playground in an upscale San Francisco neighborhood, according to a frightened father and nanny.
The 10-month-old twins Senna became short of breath and turned blue Tuesday afternoon while playing with her brother at George Moscone Park in the Marina District.
“I shook him and I felt something was wrong,” Marroqui told wral.com. “I looked at his face and he was dizzy. I thought he was not breathing.”
She said the baby was crawling in the grass and putting leaves in its mouth as usual before suddenly falling ill and called 911.
After determining that nothing was blocking his airway, paramedics administered a life-saving dose of the anti-opioid drug Narcan and brought the boy back from the brink of death.
Within seconds, the infant started crying and breathing again.
“It’s not just dealers and people you don’t know who are affected, it’s affecting the wider public,” Matkovic told the San Francisco Chronicle after the horrific near-miss.
“I just wanted to let people know that, like coyotes and RS virus and COVID, this is just one more thing to add to your checklist of what you’re looking for. [as a parent]Because we weren’t,” said Matkovic, founder of technology consulting firm Spendgo.
A hospital test later confirmed that the boy had fentanyl in his system, and he was sent home around midnight Tuesday.
There were no foils, needles or other drug-related paraphernalia in the area, city park officials said, but strong synthetic opioids could come into contact with the skin or be accidentally inhaled when in powder form. It may be absorbed.
According to Matkovic, police said the boy was most likely exposed to powder, which is difficult to detect.
A relieved dad praised his nanny’s quick thinking along with paramedics.
“If it wasn’t for her and her quick reaction, we might not be with our son today,” he said.
He said baby Senna was healthy on Wednesday.