Little Boy Gets Gift of Life : Child’s Survival Called a Christmas Miracle After He Is Stung by a Scorpion in Mexico

In what his family says is nothing short of a miracle, little Anders Bjella came home from the hospital Saturday, just in time for his second Christmas.

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The 13-month-old son of Ross and Diane Bjella of Costa Mesa was near death after being stung repeatedly by a scorpion at a Mexican resort Dec. 18.

“It’s a very happy Christmas,” his mother said soon after arriving at the family’s home, which friends had decked with balloons and a large Christmas tree. “He has his spirit back. He looks like himself again.”

Anders is expected to make a full recovery, she said, and doesn’t even have marks on his foot, where he was stung by a scorpion that had crawled into his shoe.

The accident happened as the Bjellas were getting ready to walk to a restaurant in Puerto Vallarta, where they were vacationing. Anders’ parents put his shoes on him, and he yelped after taking a couple steps. His parents said they thought he had hit his mouth, which had been sore because new teeth were coming in.

But during the walk into town, Anders started crying uncontrollably and began frothing at the mouth. His parents rushed him back to their villa and discovered the scorpion when they took off his shoes.

The Bjellas took their son to two hospitals and heard the same bad news at each. There was little that anyone thought they could do for the boy, who had a temperature of 104 degrees and had stopped breathing at times.

At the suggestion of an emergency room doctor, they called a San Diego-based air ambulance and, 17 hours after he was stung, Anders was flown early Monday to San Diego Children’s Hospital.

Anders remained on life support until Wednesday, his parents constantly at his side. Every organ in his body had been affected by the toxic venom of the creature, which turned out to be among the most lethal types of scorpion.

“He was a very, very sick youngster,” hospital spokesman Mark Morelli said. “It took about 24 hours to even determine if he was going to live through this.”

About 1,500 people, mostly children under 3 years old, die in Mexico each year from scorpion stings, he said.

Diane Bjella describes her son’s recovery as a miracle. “The doctor at the first hospital said, ‘We don’t see scorpion babies because they all die.’ ”

By Saturday, however, doctors said tests showed that Anders’ heart was beating normally and that he was well enough to go home.

“He was running around the hospital ward, opening drawers,” said his mother, who is four months’ pregnant with her second child. “We just feel so grateful for the care we got.”

Anders will be checked regularly by his doctors in the next year but is not expected to suffer any long-term health problems from the sting, Morelli said.

“This was a close call,” he said. “We’re just happy he’s going to be fine. . . . We’re happy this story has a happy ending.”