His heart stopped for 8 minutes after he choked on a ball. Now, he’s in a coma

A Georgetown boy is in a medically-induced coma after his heart reportedly stopped beating for eight minutes when a rubber ball became lodged in his throat.

10-year-old Payton Gaskins was airlifted to the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston on Sunday after he accidentally swallowed a small rubber ball, according to his GoFundMe page.

He was without oxygen for 45 minutes and became unresponsive for eight minutes, a Facebook page named Prayers for Payton says.

“There has been a lot of testing done on him this far and we do know that he does have some injuries to his brain due to lack of oxygen,” a post on the page states.

Since Payton has been in the induced coma, he has been having several seizures, the GoFundMe page says.

The GoFundMe page was set up for the Gaskins family to raise money for everyday expenses since Payton’s mother, Candice, and father, Billy, have taken time off work to be with their son in Charleston.

As of Friday afternoon, $3,743 has been raised for the family within three days.

A car wash fundraiser is being held on Sunday in Georgetown, according to another Facebook post. It will cost $5 to wash cars and $10 for trucks.

Payton will have a brain functioning test next week.

“We know God has a plan for him and we will fight til the very end for him,” a post states.

This story was originally published October 20, 2017 at 12:23 PM with the headline "His heart stopped for 8 minutes after he choked on a ball. Now, he’s in a coma."