Girl, 3, Found Clinically Dead in Snow, Is Revived

A 3-year-old girl who was revived after wandering outside and being found clinically dead in a snowdrift was well enough Thursday to sit up in her hospital bed and fuss at her nurses.

Doctors at Children’s Hospital said that Brittany Eichelberger was alert, suffering from frostbite of her hands and toes and congestion in her lungs.

“When we first took her to the hospital, I didn’t think she had a chance because she just looked so bad,” said Brittany’s mother, Melinda Eichelberger, 20. “Now, she’s fighting with the nurses, telling them to get away.”

The blond, blue-eyed child was found lifeless in the snow early Monday, apparently several hours after she had wandered outside her Elkins, W. Va., trailer home, wearing only her underwear and a T-shirt.

Eichelberger speculated that the child was enchanted by the snow and ran outside to build a snowman for her grandfather.

Brittany is breathing and eating on her own, Dr. Shekhar Venkataraman, her physician, said. Frostbite could cause her to lose the tips of her fingers and toes, and it will be “some time” before doctors determine if there has been any brain damage, he said.

Doctors estimated that Brittany had been outside for two to three hours. Her temperature had dropped to 74 degrees, causing her heart to stop--apparently minutes before her mother found her.

In the absence of oxygen, the severe cold helped preserve her brain function, Venkataraman said.

Eichelberger and her fiance, Steve Robinson, found Brittany about 10 yards from the home. A neighbor, Paul Owens, administered cardiopulmonary resuscitation until paramedics arrived.

Doctors at Davis Memorial Hospital in Elkins continued CPR for 3 1/2 hours until Brittany’s temperature rose. They also began warming the girl by wrapping her in blankets, exposing her to warm lights and pumping a warm saline solution into her stomach.

She was flown to Pittsburgh Monday evening. Her mother said Brittany was able to speak to her Tuesday.

“Her voice was real hoarse, but I was excited. I was afraid she wasn’t going to be able to talk,” Eichelberger said. “She says ‘no,’ ‘mommy,’ ‘get’ and ‘stop.’ ”