Mom speaks out after 5-year-old dies in oxygen chamber

Unable to pry open the hyperbaric oxygen chamber that trapped her 5-year-old son in a deadly inferno, Annie Cooper watched in horror as her sweet little boy was burned alive.

On January 31, 5-year-old Thomas Cooper was taken to the Oxford Center ­– an alternative medical facility – to receive treatment in a hyperbaric chamber for sleep apnea and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

“This wasn’t some type of lifesaving measure that was absolutely needed. It was just a mother who was trying to help her son with some conditions that he had and was promised that with these conditions and this treatment, that they would be able to help,” James Harrington, the family’s lawyer, told NBC News.

“Annie was trying to help her child as any parent would – as good parents do,” he adds, explaining that Thomas had already received multiple sessions at the Oxford Center, in the Detroit suburb of Troy.

Oxygen therapy

On its website, the facility claims to treat over 100 conditions, such as autism, Alzheimer’s, dyslexia and cancer. The Food and Drug Administration does not recognize hyperbaric oxygen therapy for those conditions.

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy, which involves the delivery of 100% oxygen in a pressurized, enclosed tubelike space, is cleared by the FDA to treat a handful of conditions, like carbon monoxide poisoning, certain types of wounds and burns, and decompression sickness in scuba divers.

Fiery explosion

At 7:54 a.m. the Troy Fire Department reports that firefighters and officers responded to an emergency call at the Oxford Center.

Once first responders arrived, it was determined that a hyperbaric chamber exploded with a child – identified as Thomas – “deceased inside.”

“A hyperbaric chamber contains 100 percent oxygen, which is up to three times the amount of oxygen than a normal room. The presence of such a high amount of oxygen in a pressurized environment can make it extremely combustible,” Troy Police explained in a statement, adding “that this type of incident is uncommon.”

Watched in horror

His mother, Annie Cooper, was standing next to the oxygen chamber and watched in horror as Thomas, a momma’s boy, was burned her alive.

“She has significant burns on her arm, and that was done during a rescue attempt to try to get her child out of the burning flames,” Harrington said, adding that “she was trying and trying to get him out, and was unsuccessful.”

“She does have visible burns,” he added. “But the real problem for her is going to be the emotional trauma.”

‘Absolutely devastated’

According to a GoFundMe, created to offer the family financial support Thomas “was the smartest and cutest kid that liked to zoom, zoom, zoom,” writes the organizer of the campaign that’s raised $65,000 of its $75,000 goal. “He loved to sing ‘I love mama, I love mama, I love mama so very much.’ He also loved to say ‘my momma is the best in the whole world.’”

“He wanted to grow up to be a chef. His mom asked him why and he said, ‘so I can be with mommy forever…His family loved him very much. He was a smart, intelligent boy and his parents loved him how he was. He was perfect in every way. He was the best, best boy there ever was.”

The Oxford Center released a statement to the Detroit Free Press on the incident, saying, in part, “The safety and wellbeing of the children we serve is our highest priority. Nothing like this has happened in our more than 15 years of providing this type of therapy. We do not know why or how this happened and will participate in all of the investigations that now need to take place.”

Harrington said that the boy’s family, who are “absolutely devastated” in the wake of his death, plan to file a lawsuit “to make sure that this doesn’t happen again.”

Rest in peace, Thomas. Please share your best wishes for the family in the comments section below and then share this story and ask your friends to do the same.