Chilling footage shows two women unconscious and with their heads shaved after treatment for traumatic brain injuries they allegedly suffered on a rollercoaster.
Hawaii resident Pamela Guillen, 40 and 25 years old Naomi Greer-Wilkinson from Los Angelesmade life-threatening rides at Six Flags Magic Mountain Valencia, Californiain July, a CNN research showed.
Both women were seen tied to tubes and in hospital gowns after undergoing serious procedures, the broadcaster was told.
They had ridden the X2, the world’s first roller coaster with a fourth dimension. He has been known to reach speeds of nearly 80 miles per hour while flipping the seats 360 degrees as he makes his way around the track.
It is widely considered one of the most intense roller coasters in the world and there are only two of its kind left China and inside Japan.
Within a week in July, Guillen and Greer-Wilkinson suffered severe brain hemorrhages, requiring emergency surgery after attempting the ride, CNN revealed.
Guillen, who was visiting the park with her family for her daughter’s 16th birthday, reportedly hit her head on the headrest several times during the ride and lost consciousness after getting off.
She told the broadcaster: ‘It was seconds. You go in as yourself and when you come back you are a medical emergency.”
Her daughter, Camille Marquez, added, “We got out of the cart and we saw my mother. She looked lifeless. No thought behind her eyes, nothing.
‘She had a brain haemorrhage. My mother had a very serious brain haemorrhage.’
Pamela Guillen, 40, suffered severe brain hemorrhages after riding the X2 at Six Flags in Valencia, California. Her daughter, Camille Marquez, told CNN: “We got out of the cart and we saw my mother. She looked lifeless. No thought behind her eyes, nothing’
Naomi Greer-Wilkinson, 25, collapsed after riding the X2 just six days after Guillen, according to reports. Doctors saved her life with emergency brain surgery, but she is still in a coma
The X2 at Six Flags in Valencia, California, has been closed since July 12. Six Flags did not provide a reason for the closure and the company has not commented on the investigation.
After an ambulance took Guillen from Six Flags to the hospital, surgeons were able to save her life by removing part of her skull to relieve pressure, CNN reports. During her recovery, about two weeks later, Guillen had to learn to walk and talk again.
Guillen said she still has ‘a headache every day’ [and] fatigue after doing simple things.’
‘Sometimes I just feel really down because I’m not myself anymore,” she told the broadcaster.
Just six days after Guillen was escorted to the hospital from Six Flags, Greer-Wilkinson boarded the X2 and collapsed after the ride, with similarly serious consequences.
Her father, Joshua Wilkinson, told CNN: “The shocking damaged part of her brain and it started to bleed.”
Doctors were able to save her life with emergency brain surgery.
Her mother, Artemis Greer, said, “I remember one of the surgeons bursting through the ER yelling, ‘How many are there this month? They need to stop that ride!’ He was furious.’
Greer-Wilkinson remains in a coma and on a ventilator, CNN reported.
Her mother insisted, “Naomi should never in a million years have even had the option to come along. It’s absolutely insane.’
Both doctors assume that the injuries to both Guillen and Greer-Wilkinson were caused by the X2.
“In our professional opinion, the severe brain injuries requiring immediate neurosurgical attention were the result of a traumatic rapid acceleration-deceleration event experienced during the X2 ride,” the doctors wrote in an email seen by CNN.
The ride has been closed since July 12. Six Flags did not provide a reason for the closure.
The park also declined to answer questions from CNN, the broadcaster said, including why the roller coaster remained open after the initial injury.
The Daily Mail has reached out to Six Flags for comment.
The X2 ride is linked to more than a dozen reports of injuries and hospitalizations over the past two decades, according to CNN medical reports.
A 22-year-old graduate Christopher Hawley died about 10 hours after getting off the ride with his brother and cousin in 2022, the outlet reported.
A coroner’s report found that he suffered blunt force trauma to the head in a “park ride accident,” CNN reported.
Christopher Hawley (center), 22, died after riding the X2 roller coaster at Six Flags Mountain Magic with his brother and cousin in 2022
There are only three X2 roller coasters in the world. One in Valencia, California, one in China and one in Japan
The X2 accelerates to nearly 80 miles per hour as the driver’s seats rotate 360 degrees around the track
His father, William Hawley, told it Fox 11 that one surgeon said the X2 “hit his head so hard that his brain was essentially ruptured.”
Lawyers for Hawley’s parents have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against park operator Magic Mountain LLC and replacement roller coaster train supplier S&S Worldwide Inc.
Just this week, the Hawley family reached a settlement with Magic Mountain LLC and an agreement with S&S, the terms of which have not yet been made public.
In 2010, 28-year-old Hilda Farias also died after a roller coaster ride. Doctors believed an existing brain defect had ruptured due to the intensity of the ride. Her family later settled a lawsuit for an undisclosed amount.
