Abbotsford family goes to U.S. to get rare treatment for toddler who almost drowned
Posted July 5, 2023 9:30 pm.
An Abbotsford family is in the U.S. getting a rare treatment for their toddler, who almost drowned and lost his ability to eat, walk and talk.
On June 1, three-year-old Azaryah slipped away from his mom at Cultus Lake and got in the water, and he didn’t know how to swim. Fortunately, first responders were doing a training exercise nearby and he was rescued and airlifted to BC Children’s Hospital where he stayed until this week. Now, he’s in Louisiana where Azaryah is getting hyperbaric oxygen therapy — according to the family, the treatment isn’t approved in Canada.
An Abbotsford family is in the U.S. getting a rare treatment for their toddler, who almost drowned and lost his ability to eat, walk and talk. (Sarah Chew, CityNews Image)
“The muscle tone in the front of his neck — all of his neck — has been highly compromised, meaning his neck is like a newborn. Very wobbly, the muscle has been compromised, so you have to hold his head up,” said Azaryah’s great aunt, Jenni McGrew.
“We’ve been seeing this progression of the heartbeat on the dock, off the ventilator, fully breathing on his own now — he’s responsive … they didn’t think that he would ever be responsive. So, he’s laughing at things he should be laughing at, like Thomas the Train or shows he likes.”
But that isn’t enough for his mother Natalie Hope, who wants him to be able to eat without a feeding tube, and walk and talk again. Taking him to Lousiana, she says she’s hopeful that infusing more oxygen will help heal the toddler’s brain.
“We’ve had two treatments and we’re noticing differences: we’re noticing more alertness, we’re noticing his ability to respond more to us,” Hope explained.
She says his doctor told the family that this therapy isn’t approved for near-drowning patients in Canada, which is why they’ve made their way down to the US.
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One expert says it’s not widely accessible in B.C. because of the lack of accreditation, regulations, and billing systems.
“This would not be a typical treatment where you say every child that almost drowns should go for hyperbaric treatment – it’s not an approved indication, it’s not standard treatment, so it wouldn’t necessarily be the first thing a physician would think about when they see a child in this condition,” said Sherri Ferguson, Director of Environmental Medicine and Physiology at Simon Fraser University.
“If we hadn’t taken him out, they would’ve kept medicating him pretty strongly, and he would’ve ended up in Sunnyhill, which is a rehab centre,” Hope added. “So, instead of focusing on the brain injury, top-down, they focus on occupational therapy and hope the body can catch up a little bit.”
Azaryah will be in Louisiana for at least eight weeks, and his mother says the community at home has been supportive.
“Love, support, prayer and practically being there, making us food, financial support … people who didn’t have much giving what they could was humbling,” she said.
A GoFundMe was started for the family by McGrew, and has raised nearly $50,000 so far.
