Fort Worth family wants answers for teen on life support

In a Fort Worth hospital, a family is holding onto hope for a miracle as their loved one remains on life support.

Relatives of Daniel Tamayo suspect that he overdosed on his way to school on Monday. Although unsure of the circumstances, they recall the 16-year-old boarding the bus in the morning and never returning home.

“He was so thoughtful and sweet. He always thought about everybody,” expressed his sister Viviana Gutierrez to NBC 5 outside the hospital.

The last sighting of Daniel was at a bus stop in Arlington before he embarked on his journey to Tarrant County’s Juvenile Justice Alternative Education Program.

According to Gutierrez, approximately an hour after boarding the bus, their mother, Alma Tamayo, received a life-altering phone call from the school.

“The school had called my mom and let her know that it was an emergency to go to the hospital,” Gutierrez explained.

The events between Daniel boarding the bus and his arrival at the education program remain unclear.

Fort Worth Police responded to a distress call concerning a boy who had possibly overdosed on the school bus and was found unresponsive. He was initially taken to an adult hospital before being transferred to Cook Children’s Hospital with severe brain swelling.

“They did a CT scan before seeing him, and his brain was so swollen that they weren’t able to do nothing for my Danny,” Gutierrez tearfully recounted.

Despite undergoing two standard brain death tests, Daniel’s family is pleading for more time, holding onto the hope that he will recover.

“He’s strong, my Danny’s strong. I know he’s going to be OK, but I need more people to pray for him,” Gutierrez expressed.

In a statement on Thursday morning, Cook Children’s Health Care System provided insights into Daniel’s condition and the efforts made to assess his prognosis. They noted that additional neurological testing was conducted, as requested by the family.

While a second brain death test yielded consistent results, the family continues to pray for a miracle. Durham School Services, the transportation provider for the Juvenile Justice Alternative Education Program, refrained from commenting on the ongoing investigation surrounding the incident.