Check out this article in the Journal of the American Medical Association:
http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleID=1656231

The web link above lets you read only the first page of the article. "Retrosternal" pain = pain behind the sternum, and for "epigastric pain" location, see the part of the diagram marked "Epigastrium" in the diagram on this web page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epigastrium

The rest of the article explains how with that 15-year-old male (and others), swallowing a cold carbonated beverage can (and did!) tear the lining of the patient's esophagus! Faster drinking seems to increase the risk. Other causes of "esophageal perforation" include vomiting / retching, an obstructing foreign body, and other ways to have a cold carbonated beverage such as cold Alka-Seltzer. Seems to be quite rare, but wow, it can happen!

Treatment: the young man was admitted to the hospital, given nothing by mouth for some days (I'm guessing he was hydrated and nourished intravenously), healed up and gradually began eating again.

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Notes about this forum (please post to it!):

It has been, and continues to be, a great honor and pleasure to teach and work with 2,500+ students of disaster + travel + wilderness medicine over the years. As a community we serve our friends, loved ones, and people unknown, by helping and making them safer wherever they may be. This forum is an opportunity for all of us to continue our collective learning, by sharing with each other:
> the successes (and the "oops!" of times we've given care,
> times we've heard about or read in the news about others' care (please share links to stories!), and
> any other thoughts we want to communicate to grow each other's knowledge and skills.

This forum is for graduates of any course taught by MEDIC and/or Matthew Rosefsky. In the educational and/or story-telling spirit expressed above, please share, post, create new topics. Your community and I thank you in advance for taking us all on a learning adventure.

Warmest regards,
Matt