Brain Tests Aside, Hopes Up for Boy Pulled From River

Brain wave tests turned up some abnormalities on an 11-year-old boy who fell through the ice into the Red River and was submerged for 40 minutes, but experts Sunday said it appeared that the youth would survive without severe consequences.

Alvaro Garza, of Moorhead, Minn.--across the river from Fargo--fell through thin ice Friday while playing with friends, and was listed in critical but stable condition Sunday. Doctors said they planned to gradually remove respirators as he continued his steady recovery.

“Right now he shows some signs of abnormalities from a brain-wave test. But he is responding to voices; he focuses his eyes. He can’t talk, (but) he moves all his extremities,” Dr. William Norberg, a pediatric critical-care specialist at St. Luke’s Hospitals, said at a news conference.

“We have very good hopes he will turn out totally normal,” Norberg said.

The doctor said the boy’s bodily functions were in a state of “suspended animation” when he arrived at the hospital. “When your body temperature goes down, your body needs go down,” Norberg said.

When Alvaro was pulled from the river, “he met the criteria for death--there was no pulse, . . . no sign of life signs.” His body temperature was about 80 degrees.