This is me before my non-fatal drowning experience
at the Fairborn Ohio YMCA.
I loved swimming, music, and dancing.
I was always laughing, smiling and singing.
My sad story starts on Thursday, 27 January 2005.
After having donuts for breakfast, I excitedly ran into the Fairborn YMCA for another fun-filled day while my dad worked at the base, and my mom served her country in Baghdad. Less than two hours later, I got the first ambulance ride of my life – real exciting stuff, unless you are unresponsive and brain damaged from a lack of oxygen. I had gone to the pool during a routine preschool swim activity. Unfortunately, nobody can say what happened to me because nobody was actively supervising me. Although it was a preschool setting and Ohio Law states the caregiver ratio must be maintained and cannot include the lifeguard, the caregiver was outside the pool area in an “observation area” reading a book. She never saw anything. Sadly, she believed once children are taken to the pool area, “They are not my responsibility.” The lifeguard supposedly just glanced away, but his first indication anything was wrong was my unresponsive body lying face down in the water. Various doctors have stated the amount of injury my brain sustained would have only resulted from a minimum of four to five minutes without oxygen.
I spent four days on a respirator, so I could breathe. Six days after I came off the respirator, I left Dayton Children’s Hospital ICU.
I spent the next three months in the inpatient Rehabilitation Ward at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. I tried hard every day to learn to speak, walk, and use my arms. Unfortunately, my four-year old brain suffered such a tremendous insult that I have been unable to recover.
I want to give my mom and dad a hug, but my arms don’t work right. I want to say I’m hungry or tired – I want to sing again – my voice just doesn’t work anymore. I want to chase my sister through the sprinkler again, but my legs won't cooperate.