7 year old in Billings Drowns and survives
Posted by Tim Wagoner (+757) 9 years ago
On about Thursday, March 6th, my nephew James (age 7) and his twin sister was at a friend of his sisters birthday party at a water venue in Billings.

He was noticed missing and they searched for him. They found him at the bottom of the pool. It took them minutes to find him once they noticed him missing, and more minutes to get him out of the swimming pool. They resuscitated him 2 different times. When he arrived at the hospital, the nurses and doctors said that some chemical in the body was at such a high level that they could tell he had been under the water for about 12 to 15 minutes. His body temperature was 90. All his organs had apparently shut down. For a couple of days he struggled in the hospital but they finally got him to keep food down.

His grandmother, my sister, was told that medicaid would no longer pay for him to be in the hospital and he would have to finish his recovery at home.

I went up Saturday to see him. I could not have been able to know he had went through all of that by seeing him. He was playing hard, having fun.

The doctors say that the low body temperature made it so his brain did not need as much oxygen, and that kept him from having any brain damage.

He gets tired quite a bit but other than that he is doing great.
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Posted by Steven Dey (+400) 9 years ago
I am happy for him!
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Posted by Kacey (+3157) 9 years ago
Wow...what a miracle that he survived. Your family is truly blessed.
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Posted by Steve Sullivan (+1475) 9 years ago
Wow! That's good to hear that he's alright. I too was pulled unconscious from the bottom of a pool when I was a kid. I wasn't that far gone though. Good thing he pulled through.
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Posted by David Schott (+18742) 9 years ago
Glad to hear this had a happy ending. Every parent knows that no matter how hard you try you can't watch your child(ren) 100% of the time.

I used to think that drowning involved a lot of splashing and screaming but in reality it can be very silent. Here's an interesting video about how technology is used to prevent such silent drownings:

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Posted by milestown (+353) 9 years ago
I glad to hear he's O.K.
He is very lucky.

It's nice to hear good news for a change.
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Posted by Dorothea Dyba Sturges (+54) 9 years ago
This very same thing happened to my 29 year old grandson, when he was 18 months old! Because it was October and the water was so cold, he not only survived, but has finished college and has a good job! It happened at the baby sitter's home with a fenced pool! The Fireman who rescued him received a plaque at the time, and presented it to Joe as a Christmas gift a couple years ago! Incidentally, children drown because everyone thinks someone else is looking after them, and so no one is.......
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