Disturbing hospital images show two women unconscious, their heads shaved, after receiving treatment for traumatic brain injuries they reportedly sustained following rides on a roller coaster.
The images show Hawaii resident Pamela Guillen, 40, and 25-year-old Naomi Greer-Wilkinson from Los Angeles, who both experienced life-threatening medical emergencies after riding the X2 roller coaster at Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, California, in July, according to a CNN investigation.
In the photos, both women are seen in hospital gowns and connected to medical tubes after undergoing major procedures that were described to the broadcaster.
The X2 is billed as the world’s first fourth-dimension roller coaster, a ride known for reaching speeds close to 80 miles per hour while riders’ seats rotate 360 degrees as the train moves along the track.
Often described by thrill-seekers as one of the most extreme roller coasters in the world, the X2 is also exceptionally rare, with only two other rides of its kind operating — one in China and one in Japan.
Within the span of a single week in July, Guillen and Greer-Wilkinson suffered severe brain hemorrhages after riding the attraction at Six Flags Magic Mountain, requiring emergency surgery, CNN reported.
Guillen, who had gone to the theme park with her family to celebrate her daughter’s 16th birthday, reportedly hit her head against the headrest multiple times during the ride and lost consciousness shortly after stepping off.
“It was seconds,” she told CNN. “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 an emergency brain surgery but she remains in a coma
The X2 at Six Flags in Valencia, California remains closed since July 12. Six Flags did not give a reason for the closure and the company has not published 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 everyday [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 reports.
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 X2 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.
Our News Outlet 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 10 hours after getting off the ride with his brother and cousin in 2022, the outlet reported.
A coroner’s report found he died of blunt head trauma during a ‘park ride accident,’ CNN reports.
Christopher Hawley (middle), 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 one 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 passed away 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.
