Toddler Survives Drowning After Almost 2 Hours of CPR

• comments
• 
• 

Gardell Martin, a 22-month-old boy from Pennsylvania, survived drowning after about 1 hour and 41 minutes of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). The boy who was lifeless when he was pulled out of an icy creek and was restored to life by the dedicated efforts of about 30 doctors at Geisinger's Janet Weis Children's Hospital in Danville.

Gardell, who was playing with two of his brothers, fell into a stream in their 5 acre property near Mifflinburg, and was swept away by the running water. 7-year-old Greg rushed into their house, screaming about his missing brother Gardell, said the CBS News.

Rose Martin, the toddler's mother who set out to search their property, soon suspected that her son might have fallen into the creek and called 911 for assistance. Mrs. Martin's two teen daughters searched along the stream for their missing brother, said the NBC 10.

Gardell was found almost dead by a neighbour  half a mile away from the house. He was stuck in a tree branch in the stream with water gushing around him. The toddler had no pulse and was given CPR as soon as the ambulance crew arrived minutes later, CBS News noted.

The child was given CPR continuously for 101 minutes on his way to the nearby community hospital -- in the ambulance and aboard a medical helicopter to the emergency room of Janet Weis, the pediatric wing of Geisinger Medical Center -- until he got his pulse back. A team of 30 doctors worked on Gardell to bring him back to life, warming up his body alongside CPR, reported NBC 10. 

Dr. Frank Maffei, director of the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at the Geisinger Hospital, said "It's not only extraordinarily rare that we got the kid back, but what's even more extraordinary is the rate at which he recovered and the completeness of his recovery."

He also added, "The stars and moon aligned, and he had an angel on his shoulder," notes The Week.   

Maffei also noted that the kid had a body temperature of 77 degrees when he was brought to the hospital -- about 20 degrees less than normal human body temperature. However, Hypothermia in the child's case was quite an advantage as it slowed down the metabolism rate of Gardell and had given some degree of protection from cardiac arrest, a doctor explained notes CBS News.

When Gardell's temperature rose to about 82 degrees he showed symptoms of life.

"Right before, we did one last pulse check and Dr. Lambert and I were checking pulses simultaneously and we looked at each other and said he's got a pulse," Maffei explained. Lambert said that Gardell belonged to extremely rare category of recovery.

Mrs. Martin noted gratefully that "It was an act of God; there is no doubt in my mind it's a miracle. God had the right people in the right place at the right time and they all did a wonderful job."