A 12-year-old boy, who was part of a high-stakes cruise ship rescue by the Air Force, reunited with the doctor who saved his life.
In May, Aiden Parker and his family were aboard the Carnival Venezia cruise ship, en route to New York City from the Caribbean when he encountered a medical incident.
After being assessed by the medical staff on board, the ship's senior physician Dr. Stephanie Weiss, discovered an urgent, life-threatening condition in Aiden's abdomen, prompting her to make a quick decision to get him and his mom to receive urgent care.
At the time, the ship was outside of North Carolina and more than 350 nautical miles off the coast. Aiden was later airlifted by an Air Force Rescue helicopter from the ship to the nearest capable medical center where he was treated and eventually recovered.
In the exclusive reunion on "Good Morning America" which aired on Friday, Aiden, alongside his mom Angela Bridges and Weiss, spoke out for the first time since the high-seas rescue five months ago.
"It's nice to see you again, and you look different," Weiss told Aiden, who replied: "Yeah, definitely in way, better shape than before."
Exclusive: Mom speaks out after Air Force rescued son from cruise shipDiscussing the medical issue that Aiden suffered while on the holiday cruise, Weiss said she and her medical team discovered a perforation, or hole, in Aiden's intestines. This usually requires emergent surgery.
"It is one of the cases that you need to get off the ship as soon as possible. It can eventually end your life," said Weiss who was doing the interview while onboard another carnival cruise.
"I knew how serious it was. And like, you know, obviously scared to death," Bridges added of the incident.
To this day, doctors are still trying to determine the exact cause behind the illness.
"I just felt extremely horrible," Aiden recalled. "I would wake up 30 min to an hour later [and] fall back asleep again."
During the rescue mission, due to the ship being so remotely offshore, the choppers had to conduct three mid-air refuelings, and Aiden was asleep through most of the rescue journey.
"I basically just did the same thing that I did on the cruise," he said. "Fell asleep, woke up every now and then [and] fell asleep until we got to the hospital."
He continued, "But the times that I was awake, I was just trying to pay attention to other things.. looking at the helicopter, and how it works."
After spending a month in the hospital, Aiden is now fully recovered and rebuilding his strength. Weiss was brought to tears after hearing about his remarkable progress.
"I just wanted to say thank you for helping me and making me feel better," Aiden told Weiss during the interview with "GMA."
Bridges also expressed her gratitude to Weiss when recounting how Weiss helped her stay calm throughout the medical emergency situation on board with her child.
"I was so scared. And I said, 'what if they [the Navy] are not close enough?'" Bridges recalled telling Weiss. "And you were just like 'deep breath… one thing at a time.' [And] that kept me from a panic attack, because I would have lost it…It took me through the entire month of being in the hospital. Every time that I felt like I was on the brink of, you know, a panic attack, I just thought about that moment, and I was like if I could make it through that I could make it through this."
"You're amazing, and thank you so much for that," Bridges told Weiss.
"It was a pleasure, it was really a pleasure," Weiss replied.
Added Aiden, "I feel like that I probably wouldn't still be here if you didn't help me."
In response, Weiss said, "Thank you for that… Come visit me in the Medical Center, just saying, 'Hi,' nothing else," before sending her love to both Aiden and Bridges.
Bridges told "GMA," the rescue operation was such a team effort. In addition to Weiss, she also credited all the doctors, nurses, the captain, the Air Force, the Coast Guard who went above and beyond to complete the lifesaving mission.
