Disturbing images show two women unconscious with shaved heads after undergoing treatment for traumatic brain injuries they reportedly sustained on a roller coaster.
Hawaii resident Pamela Guillen, 40, and 25-year-old Naomi Greer-Wilkinson of Los Angeles suffered life-threatening injuries after riding at Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, California, in July, according to a CNN investigation.
Both women were pictured in hospital gowns and connected to tubes after undergoing emergency procedures, details of which were reported by the broadcaster.
They had ridden the X2, described as the world’s first fourth-dimension roller coaster. The ride reaches speeds of nearly 80 miles per hour, while its seats rotate 360 degrees as the train travels around the track.
The attraction is widely considered one of the world’s most intense roller coasters. Only two other rides of its kind are believed to exist—one in China and another in Japan.
Within the space of a week in July, Guillen and Greer-Wilkinson suffered severe brain hemorrhages after riding the attraction and required emergency surgery, CNN reported.
Guillen was visiting the park with her family to celebrate her daughter’s 16th birthday when, according to reports, she struck her head against the headrest several times during the ride. She lost consciousness shortly 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, said: ‘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 Magic Mountain 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 just 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 Magic Mountain in Valencia, California, has been closed since July 12. Six Flags has not given a reason for the closure or released a statement about the investigation.
After an ambulance took Guillen from Six Flags to hospital, surgeons saved her life by removing part of her skull to relieve pressure, CNN reported. During her recovery, she had to relearn how to walk and speak.
Guillen said she continues to experience ‘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.
Six days after Guillen was taken to hospital from the park, Greer-Wilkinson rode the X2 and collapsed after leaving the attraction, suffering similarly serious consequences.
Her father, Joshua Wilkinson, told CNN: ‘The jarring had damaged part of her brain and it had begun to bleed.’
Doctors performed emergency brain surgery and were able to save her life.
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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 is being kept on a ventilator, CNN reported.
Her mother said: ‘Naomi should have never, ever in a million years, even had the option to get on that ride. It’s absolutely insane.’
Doctors involved in both cases believe the women’s injuries were caused by the X2.
‘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 reviewed by CNN.
The attraction has remained closed since July 12, although Six Flags has not explained why.
According to CNN, the park also declined to answer questions, including why the roller coaster remained open after the first reported injury.
The Daily Mail has contacted Six Flags for comment.
Medical reports reviewed by CNN indicate that the X2 has been associated with more than a dozen injury and hospitalization reports over the past two decades.
A 22-year-old college graduate, Christopher Hawley, died around 10 hours after riding the attraction with his brother and cousin in 2022, the outlet reported.
A coroner’s report concluded that he suffered blunt-force head trauma in a ‘park ride accident,’ CNN reported.
Christopher Hawley, 22, pictured at center, died after riding the X2 roller coaster at Six Flags Magic Mountain with his brother and cousin in 2022.
Only three X2 roller coasters are known to exist worldwide: one in Valencia, California, one in China and another in Japan.
The X2 reaches speeds of nearly 80 miles per hour while rotating 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 representing Hawley’s parents filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against park operator Magic Mountain LLC and S&S Worldwide Inc., the supplier of replacement coaster trains.
The Hawley family reached a settlement with Magic Mountain LLC this week and also reached an agreement with S&S. The terms have not been disclosed.
In 2010, 28-year-old Hilda Farias also died after riding the coaster. Doctors believed an existing abnormality in her brain ruptured because of the ride’s intensity. Her family later settled a lawsuit for an undisclosed sum.
