A toddler has fully recovered from a near-drowning, thanks to his cool-headed mother’s knowledge of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).
The 18-month-old Sekani Nzima was playing outside with his nieces and nephews and a few other friends at his parents’ house in Silver Lakes in Pretoria. According to his mother, Thandokazi, they played far from the pool, but she suspects he followed one of the children into the house when he came to ask for a patch.
“Suddenly I heard one of the neighbours’ children shouting, ‘Sekani has fallen into the pool’. It was such a big shock that my sense of time was completely distorted. I just kept praying as I ran to the place where the neighbors’ nine-year-old child pulled Sekani out of the water. It was only through prayer that I managed to calm down and start CPR,” she says.
Thandokazi is a mining engineer and has received CPR training at work, but has never needed to apply it to anyone. “I had to adjust to the pressure to carry it out on such a small child and I wasn’t sure if I should stop turning him over. It was a frightening situation for a mother,” she says.
In the meantime, neighbors called the emergency services Netcare911 and the emergency service operator assisted Thandokazi over the phone on how to help her son, until emergency services arrived.
“Finally he coughed and began to show signs of life. The ambulance didn’t take long to get there either and it was as if everything just worked together perfectly to save Sekani’s life.”
Wikus de Jager, a paramedic attached to Netcare911, said it was a relief that Sekani was breathing when they arrived, but that he was not breathing as well as they had hoped. When he was stable enough, paramedics put him in the ambulance while they gave him oxygen and tried to warm him up.
“We knew Sekani was not yet out of danger and based on his condition, and considering that it was rush hour traffic, we decided to call an air ambulance to take him to the most suitable hospital,” said Jacques Andersen, also a member of the Netcare911 team, said.
Sekani was consequently airlifted to Waterfall City Hospital.
Anderse says the CPR Thandokazi administered saved her son’s life. “I would encourage anyone to at least learn basic CPR. You never know when you’re going to need it.”
Thandokazi says they live happily in a cul-de-sac where the helicopter was able to land. “My heart stopped as I watched my child being loaded into the helicopter.” She called out to him and moments later she could hear him calling back to her from the helicopter. “It was such a relief.”
A specialist team was already on standby when Sekani landed at the hospital and he was immediately placed on a machine to help him breathe. “We were not sure how long the oxygen supply to Sekani’s brain was cut off while he was in the water, so there could have been brain damage,” said the pediatrician, dr. Palesa Monyake, said.
The toddler was placed in a medically induced coma and his temperature brought down to give his brain the best possible chance to recover. At this stage, the parents were still unsure whether their child had suffered brain damage.
In addition, a few days later he developed severe pneumonia due to the pool water in his lungs, but eventually began to recover and was strong enough to be moved from intensive care to a high-care ward. He has since fully recovered and is back at home.
“He is now as mischievous as ever. Anyone who sees him now would never guess what he has been through in recent months,” says Thandokazi. “I encourage anyone to learn CPR. Things would have worked out very differently for us if we didn’t have this skill.”
How to prevent child drowning:
Sarah Kekana, spokesperson for Netcare911, says drownings can happen at any time of the year, but they see a noticeable increase in the summer months. Netcare911 provides the following tips to help prevent these tragedies.
- Learn life-saving skills, such as CPR and how to swim.
- Know which numbers to call in an emergency.
- Make sure swimming pools, fish ponds and water storage tanks are properly fenced and that children in particular cannot easily access them. This includes the dogs’ water bowl. A baby can drown in just 2.5 cm of water.
- Always be on your guard. Drowning happens quietly and quickly, so you must always ensure that a responsible adult supervises when children are playing near a swimming pool or other open water source.
- If your child is under four in the water, you must be within arm’s length of the water.
- Immediately put the net back over the pool when you have finished swimming.
- Don’t rely on fins, inflatable bands or inflatable toys to keep children safe in the water.
- Keep children away from pool or jacuzzi drains, as hair or limbs can be sucked into the pipe.
