Chilling images show two women unconscious and with shaved heads after receiving treatment for traumatic brain injuries they reportedly suffered on a roller coaster.
Hawaii resident Pamela Guillen, 40, and 25-year-old Naomi Greer-Wilkinson from Los Angeles, took life-threatening rides at Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, California, in July, a CNN investigation revealed.
Both women were seen attached to tubes and in hospital gowns after undergoing serious procedures, which have been detailed to the broadcaster.
They had ridden on the X2, the world’s first fourth-dimension roller coaster. It is known for hitting speeds of nearly 80 miles an hour while flipping seats 360 degrees as it makes its way around the track.
It is widely regarded as one of the most intense roller coasters in the world and there are only two more of its kind, in China and in Japan.
Within a week in July, Guillen and Greer-Wilkinson suffered severe brain hemorrhages, sending them to emergency surgery after trying the ride, CNN revealed.
Guillen, who was visiting the park with her family for her daughter’s 16th birthday, reportedly struck her head against 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 off the cart and we saw my mom. She looked lifeless. Not a thought behind her eyes, nothing.
‘She had a brain bleed. My mom had a really bad brain bleed.’
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 off the cart and we saw my mom. She looked lifeless. Not a thought behind her eyes, nothing’
Naomi Greer-Wilkinson, 25, collapsed after riding the X2 only six days after Guillen, according to reports. Doctors saved her life with emergency brain surgery but she remains in a coma
The X2 at Six Flags in Valencia, California, has been closed since July 12. Six Flags did not give a reason for the closure and the company has not released any statements on the investigation
After an ambulance brought 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. Guillen had to relearn how to walk and talk during her recovery around two weeks after.
Guillen said that she still has ‘headaches every day [and] fatigues after doing simple things.’
‘Sometimes I just feel really down because I am not me 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 jarring had damaged part of her brain and it had begun to bleed.’
Doctors were able to save her life with an emergency brain surgery.
Her mother, Artemis Greer, said: ‘I do remember one of the surgeons storming through the ER and yelling: “How many is it this month? They’ve got to shut that ride down!” He was furious.’
Greer-Wilkinson remains in a coma and on a ventilator, CNN reported.
Her mother insisted: ‘Naomi should have never, ever in a million years, even had the option to get on that ride. It’s absolutely insane.’
Both doctors assume that the injuries were caused by the X2 in Guillen’s as well as in Greer-Wilkinson’s case.
‘In our professional opinion, the severe brain injuries requiring emergent neurosurgical attention were the result of a traumatic rapid acceleration-deceleration event experienced while on the X2 ride,’ the doctors wrote in an email viewed by CNN.
The ride has remained closed since July 12. Six Flags did not give a reason for the closure.
The park also declined to answer questions from CNN, according to the broadcaster, including why the rollercoaster stayed open after the first injury.
The Daily Mail has contacted Six Flags for comment.
The X2 ride has been linked to more than a dozen reports of injuries and hospitalizations in the past two decades, according to medical reports seen by CNN.
A 22-year-old college graduate, Christopher Hawley, died about ten hours after getting off the ride with his brother and cousin in 2022, the outlet said.
A coroner’s report found he suffered blunt head trauma during 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 another in Japan
The X2 speeds up to nearly 80 miles an hour while flipping rider seats 360 degrees around the track
His father, William Hawley, told Fox 11 that a surgeon said the X2 ‘hit his head so hard that it had basically ruptured his brain.’
Attorneys for Hawley’s parents filed a wrongful death lawsuit against park operator Magic Mountain LLC and replacement coaster train supplier S&S Worldwide Inc.
Just this week, the Hawley family reached a settlement with Magic Mountain LLC and an accord with S&S, the terms of which remain undisclosed.
In 2010, 28-year-old Hilda Farias also died after riding the roller coaster. Doctors believed an existing brain abnormality ruptured because of the ride’s intensity. Her family later settled a lawsuit for an undisclosed amount.
