Apple watch helps save Massachusetts teen athlete’s life

17-year old Paul Houle was at football practice last week when he started feeling pain in his back and chest. He believes that in the absence of his heart rate monitor, his health condition would’ve remained undiagnosed. Paul was certain there was a problem when his resting heart rate was more than double his average.

The teen’s father was skeptical of the Apple Watch at first, not wanting his son to waste money on one, but after the lifesaving experience it provided over the weekend, he went out and bought himself and his wife one. The release of the protein myoglobin into his blood stream made his liver, heart and kidneys begin to shut down.

“Doctors told me that if I had not said anything and gone to practice the next day, I very easily could have died”, Houle told The Huffington Post over the phone.

The Apple Watch is designed with a bunch of sensors and features that can monitor health statistics (obviously not the only device on the market to do this). Houle realized that something must be wrong for his heart rate to register so high for a prolonged period of time. Houle was diagnosed with rhabdomyolysis, a condition that occurs after intense exercise results in the leaking of enzymes and proteins into the blood from muscle cells. But Houle believed that he wouldn’t do anything either if it hadn’t been for the information provided by the smart watch. Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) has earned the right to be self-satisfied as its technology has actually saved two human lives. “I’m grateful to the school because the trainers and the nurses, everybody really just jumped on it”, Paul’s dad, Dr. Paul Houle, told WBZ. “We had a heat wave going through here”.

Houle, now back at school after a three-day stint in the hospital, is still suffering from fatigue and muscle soreness and isn’t sure when he’ll be able to play sports again. The news also reached Apple CEO, Tim Cook, who gave him a new iPhone as a gift, and a summer internship at the company.