Boy (2) drowns, then a miracle happens
"There was not a breath in his body; no heartbeat, no life left in him at all."
ALBERTON resident Bianca Pretorius’ worst nightmare came true when her little boy, Troy, drowned in the late afternoon of January 11. Yet, an incredible miracle happened. Bianca tells the heart-moving story.
“My two-year-old baby boy Troy was playing nearby while I was busy cooking dinner. A few minutes later, I heard a blood-curdling scream from my dad, Steven.
“I rushed out the door and found my little boy on the ground after my dad pulled his lifeless body from the swimming pool. It was the worst thing any mom could ever see. He was grey and his little lips were blue. There was not a breath in his body, no heartbeat and no life left in him at all.”
She told the RECORD that her dad started doing CPR straight away and her mom Yvonne, who was a trainee lifeguard in Natal as a youngster, tried to help as well. However, they said they weren’t sure how to do this on such a tiny little body. Bianca ran down the passage and shouted to her younger brother Shane to come and help Troy.
His heart started beating
“Shane just recently got his qualifications last October as a basic ambulance assistant, but he had never worked on a person before this day and never thought it would be his nephew. He immediately started working on Troy and he was so calm, focused and professional.”
And a miracle happened for the Pretorius family. Shane managed to get Troy to breathe and his heartbeat came back. “My dad got a thermal blanket out of my brother’s car and wrapped Troy’s tiny, cold body nice and tight. My husband Timothy would not let Troy go.
“He ran to the car with Troy and Shane grabbed the car keys to rush to the hospital. In the meantime, my mom contacted my other brother Jacques, who works for ER24, asking him to send an ambulance urgently.”
Jacques, in return, contacted ER24 immediately and told them what had just happened. Yvonne also pushed the panic button and within 10 minutes 4th Dimension Security was there to assist.
“They called their paramedics and ER24 also arrived soon after. They immediately put Troy on oxygen and sucked the leftover water out of his throat and tummy – Shane got most of the water out already. They estimated that Troy had been drowning for about a minute,” Bianca said.
Troy was rushed to the Netcare Union Hospital and according to Bianca, he was screaming all the way to the hospital. “Upon arrival, they began to stabilise him. When ER24 arrived at the Netcare Union Hospital, Jacques was waiting for us and kept us calm while we were waiting.
“The doctors worked fast, continuing to stabilise Troy. He was sent in for scans and X-rays. After some time, my aunt Vivian and uncle Wayne (Troy’s godparents) and our family friend, Tyron, arrived at the hospital to support us.”
Prayer chain
After what Bianca described as something which felt like an eternity, the doctor called her and Timothy into another room. “My heart dropped into my tummy. We were told that Netcare Union Hospital does not deal with near-drown patients because they don’t have the facilities. Thankfully, she contacted dr Bartlett from Garden City Clinic.”
Dr Bartlett specialises in near-drown cases. They had Troy’s bed prepared in Garden City’s pediatric ICU ward and were waiting on the doctor’s arrival. Troy had to be airlifted by Netcare and they went straight to Garden City to wait for them to land.
“The flight only took four minutes and my dad, who was very upset and shook up, drove me, my mom and my husband to the Garden City Clinic.
“Meanwhile, my 80-year-old granny Yvonne Thring waited at home, looking after my five-year-old girl Teagan, to give us peace of mind that she was okay. Teagan was devastated to see her brother like that. She thought it was her fault because they always play together, but she wasn’t playing with him at that time. This broke my heart and we all reassured her that it was not her fault.”
Bianca said that while they were waiting for the helicopter, they continued praying. Troy arrived and was pushed to the hospital. “He had so many pipes on him – I felt so broken to see my little boy like that. They took Troy into the PICU and told us to please wait outside while they work on him.
“So we waited, praying and asking everyone to please pray for him. My mom had contacted her sister, Lannie, and told her what had happened and asked her to please pray and ask everyone she knows to pray.
“The news spread and, eventually, a whole prayer chain started. Our church and my grandmother’s minister Jaco came to pray over Troy and for the whole family.”
Anything to help Troy
The doctors called them into the PICU and told them what the next steps were. They needed to put a brain protector in Troy’s head so that his brain could be monitored. It’s a risky procedure as it involves drilling into the skull to insert a bolt that would monitor the brain 24/7. “We agreed. We’d do anything to help our precious little boy.
“They said we could come in and see him before they started the procedure. We went in with minister Jaco and prayed over Troy. I could sense God’s presence in the room and started to calm down a lot. I could hear Him say ‘don’t worry; it’s all in My hands’. My faith became even stronger that day.
“My husband contacted his mother Renee, brother Oliver and sister-in-law Daniella, who also came to support us. My husband’s aunt Elma and uncle Chris were also at the hospital with their mother and, upon hearing what happened, came to support us immediately.”
Bianca says the next couple of days were very stressful and heartbreaking as she watched her little boy fighting for his life. “He was on all sorts of machines, drips, heart and brain monitors and he had a pipe in his tiny throat to help him breathe. He was under heavy sedation,” she said.
He walked and talked
On the Saturday they took the pipe out of his throat and put a small mask over his mouth and nose. Bianca told the RECORD that by Sunday he tried to come out of the sedation a couple of times on his own and by Monday the doctors slowly started to take him off of some of the machines.
“By Tuesday, he was free from all the machines, except for one drip and a heart monitor. He was able to walk and talk to all of us. We couldn’t believe our eyes – he was almost back to his old self. It was and still is an absolute miracle. Thank You, Lord Jesus,” she said.
“On Wednesday, when we pulled into our driveway with our beautiful little miracle boy Troy, safe in the car with us, my mom called to find out how Troy was doing and asked if she could come and visit.”
Ironically, one of the first things Troy wanted to do when he got home was to go and swim. “I took him in for just a bit because he still had stitches on his head and I didn’t want it to get wet. He had no fear of the pool or memory of the terrible thing that had happened to him.”
Giving thanks
Bianca and Timothy would like to take this opportunity to thank her dad, mom Yvonne, brothers Shane, Jacques and Duncan, and granny Yvonne for looking after their sweet little girl Teagan and for Teagan for being so good and understanding during this traumatic time.
“I also want to thank my aunt Vivian and uncle Wayne, our friend Tyron, aunt Lannie and my cousin Claire, ER24, the doctors at Union and the Union Hospital, Netcare 911 and their paramedics, Garden City Clinic, doctor Bartlett the neurosurgeon, all the pediatric ICU nurses, Brackenhurst Methodist Church, minister Jaco, all our wonderful family members and friends near and far for all their support and ongoing prayers and messages.
“Thanks to my husband’s aunt Elma and uncle Chris, my mother-in-law Rene, brother-in-law Oliver and sister-in-law Daniella. We appreciate all of you. We know we are much loved and our little man is most grateful to all of you.
“Thank you, Lord Jesus, for bringing our baby boy back to us, unscathed. To You be all the glory!”
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