Boy Found Face-Down in Pool Saved by Grandparents’ Panic

A 2-year-old boy gave his grandparents quite a scare when he disappeared Friday afternoon. When the couple found him, he was face-down in their pool.

Their fear, combined with the fact that the boy had only been underwater a few minutes, kept the boy alive, firefighters said. He was listed in stable condition Friday night at Chapman General Hospital in Orange.

In their panic, the grandparents called 911 and ran around the house holding the boy in their arms, Orange County Fire Capt. Dan Young said. That bouncing motion forced sufficient air into the boy until firefighters arrived, he said.

“We don’t recommend it as a treatment, and if the child had drowned, it wouldn’t have helped,” Young said. “But they got it so where at least some air was getting to his major organs. There are no obvious signs that he has any neurological damage.”

Young said the boy, whom family members asked not be identified, was being kept in the hospital overnight for observation.

Drowning is the county’s leading cause of accidental death among children aged 1 to 4, Young said, noting that firefighters responded to drownings or near drownings almost every other day in July.

“It’s just the simple little things that you don’t think about,” he said. “You can’t turn your back on these kids for a second. A minute is a long time when you can’t breathe.”