Boy declared dead five times aces PEP

When Darnell Pinnock was born, he weighed just one pound and seven ounces. Delivered before he had reached seven months in the womb, far short of the typical nine-month pregnancy, his arrival in the world was marked by immediate struggle.

Before he was even a month old, doctors reportedly declared him dead not once, not twice, but five separate times, according to his mother, Sharon Douglas Pinnock. And, even after being brought back to life, she says, physicians warned that he was not receiving enough oxygen and urged her to prepare for the possibility of severe brain damage.

Yet, against those early predictions, this once-fragile newborn has grown into what his mother now calls living proof that adversity does not get the final word. 

Now 11 years old, Darnell is basking in the success of his Primary Exit Profile (PEP) results, having secured mastery in all subject areas tested, and is set to head to Mount Saint Joseph Catholic High School in September.

With tears streaming down his face, young Darnell hugged his mother and said repeatedly, “Mommy, I did it!” He has triumphed in yet another test in his young life but, unlike the others, this had his parents grinning from ear to ear.

But Darnell’s story does not start there. His mother told THE WEEKEND STAR that, when he was about a month old, medical staff asked for consent to remove him from life support, saying he was not receiving sufficient oxygen to the brain and warning that, if he survived, he would likely suffer severe cognitive impairment and be unable to function independently or learn in school. His mother refused, stating that she would not sign the consent form and would leave the outcome in God’s hands.

“I said to the doctor, if it is a vegetable the Lord wants me to have, then so be it, but I will not sign that paper,” Douglas Pinnock shared as tears rolled down her face.

“If I had signed that paper, I would have killed my child,” she said, her voice quivering as she recounted the experience.

Her son, she explained, was born prematurely, one week shy of seven months, and had to be admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at the Mandeville Regional Hospital, where he spent two weeks in an incubator. When he was discharged, Douglas Pinnock believed the worst was now behind them. But, just two weeks later, everything changed.

 “After two weeks at home he just started screaming, not eating, he wasn't taking the breast any more. When I looked at him, his mouth was blue, his entire body was blue like the sky,” she said, her voice softened as she reflected on the ordeal that unfolded just 29 days after giving birth to Darnell.

The newborn was rushed to his paediatrician, who advised immediate transfer to hospital. Once there, she said doctors worked frantically to save his life but the situation appeared bleak.

“They kept saying he is dead until the last moment they said they tried everything,” she recalled. “He stopped breathing for about 15 minutes and nothing,” she said, revisiting the painful memories of October 20, 2014.

For Douglas Pinnock, hearing those words felt like her entire world had been ripped apart.

“I was weak,” she said. “I fell to the ground in the hospital and I wept,” she recalled.

But then, she says, an unexpected moment shifted the course of events. 

“This nurse came in out of nowhere and said, ‘Where is the baby they said died?’ They pointed to my baby. She said, ‘This baby will not die, in Jesus name’. And she just grabbed a tube and pushed it down his throat and he started coughing,” Douglas Pinnock related.

Baby Darnell was alive.

Still, the fight to keep him breathing was far from over. The mother of four boys recalled a night filled with fear and exhaustion as doctors ordered them to keep their baby awake.

“That night, the doctor said we can't let him fall asleep because, if he fall asleep, he may not wake. My husband and I were there, one had to pump his heart and one had to beat him so that him don't sleep. We did that for the entire night until his stats came up back, but then he went into a coma,” she said.

Douglas Pinnock said what followed were multiple declarations of death that still haunt her to this day. Little Darnell, she said, was pronounced dead three times on October 20, once on October 23 and again on October 25 — making it five times in total.

She recalled how, during those episodes, her infant son — whom she described as being as small as a cellular phone — would stop eating, scream uncontrollably, turn blue, and stop breathing.

As the memories lingered, her tone shifted from pain to reflection as she described a moment she believes marked another turning point. 

“I always go and pray, and one day I was there I heard a voice say, ‘Go the bathroom’. I know I didn't want to see the bathroom but the voice got so loud like my eardrum was going to burst. I listened and, by time I touch the door, I had no control. I was just there worshipping. By time I was finished and went back to the ward, the baby opened his eyes and was smiling at me.”

Douglas Pinnock explained that, although Darnell continues to face some health uncertainty, doctors have never been able to give a definitive diagnosis. Still, she says he has met every developmental milestone.

“He met every milestone as any regular kid. He was just smaller in body and never got his six weeks shot until he was four months old,” she said.

Because of frequent illness in his early years, Douglas Pinnock — an early childhood educator — kept him at home during his formative schooling period. He later began primary school in 2019, but the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted face-to-face learning shortly after. Despite the setbacks, she says he adapted and continued learning at home.  But that did not shield him from getting the virus, which claimed the lives of more than 7 million people worldwide. Luckily, his symptoms were not severe. Now, his mother fondly refers to him as her COVID baby.

Meanwhile, Douglas Pinnock said that, on one of his hospital visits, she recalled another shocking discovery. 

“A doctor took out his file and said ‘Darnell Pinnock? Darnell Pinnock is dead! I said ‘What’? He said, yes, and showed me where they have him dead from meningitis. I was shocked because no one told me what was wrong with my baby, but that was there. So I said, ‘Well, he is not dead and this is the Darnell Pinnock.’”

Despite being written off in early records, she says Darnell continued to defy expectations, improving year after year.

“He started at one of the lowest class there, but then every year he goes higher and higher until he was in one of the brightest classes,” she beamed. “Oh my God, he is making me super proud.”

Douglas Pinnock says she has always shared his survival story with him, and it has strengthened his faith. She says he often responds simply, “Mommy, God really loves me.”

Now dreaming of a future in science, his mother says she has no doubt about his potential.

“This little guy,, if you ask him anything about the planets, anything about sciences he can answer every question without Google. So he wants to be a scientist and this is from he was small,” Douglas Pinnock said.

But, as she spoke to THE WEEKEND STAR with tears welling in her eyes, she reflected on the deeper meaning of their journey.

“I never gave up and I strongly believe there is nothing that is impossible that God can’t do and He did it for me and I know He will do it for others, they just have to believe and pray. Not just pray but believe and pray,” she stressed.