2-year-old in ICU after nearly drowning in foul swimming pool

Today is Damon Ferreira’s second birthday.

Instead of cake and presents at home, Damon’s close family will spend visiting hours praying at his bedside in the intensive care unit at the Bay Hospital in Richards Bay.

Last week Saturday was supposed to be the beginning of a brand new chapter in the Ferreiras’ lives, but ended up being a nightmare no parent should have to endure.

Chantel and Riaan were moving from Vryheid into their new home in Richards Bay. After being unemployed for a while, Riaan had been offered a supervisory position in an industrial plant and the family was looking forward to a fresh start.

While Chantel was nursing her 10-month-old baby inside, maintenance men were working outside, doing some final repairs to the Ferreira’s new home, and Damon was playing with his four-year-old brother.

“The boys were playing together inside and outside of the house. When the elder brother came back inside alone, Chantel asked him where Damon was and became concerned when he told her he didn’t know,” said grandmother, Cynthia Pretorius.

Chantel immediately went looking for Damon and what she found chilled her to the bone.

The maintenance men had unlocked the gate that leads to the pool and had left it open for easy access while they were conducting their repairs.

Unknown to them, Damon had entered the pool area to play, and when Chantel finally found him, he was immersed unconscious in the murky green depths of a pool that hadn’t been cleaned in some time.

Cynthia said that the supervisor of the maintenance crew got Damon out of the pool and drove him to the closest hospital, which was The Bay Hospital. It took the medical staff 15 minutes to resuscitate him before they were finally rewarded with a pulse.

Damon has been in the intensive care unit since. While he did regain consciousness, he is being kept under heavy sedation while his body is fighting a serious infection from all the foul water he took in from the pool.

Only once the infection has cleared, will doctors be able to tell what internal damage Damon had suffered when his heart stopped beating.

“A machine was brought in from Ballito to keep his temperature down while Damon is fighting the infection. Doctors have also made it such that most of his energy is going to support the functioning of his heart and brain, and he cannot breathe without the assistance of the lung machine because one of his lungs has collapsed from the infection,” Cynthia explained, tearfully.

While Damon requires hospital care, his medical expenses are piling up leaving the family in a financial crisis on top of the trauma they have already endured.

Well-wishers who would like to make a contribution toward ensuring that Damon receives the best possible medical care can make a deposit into the following bank account:

Bank: Capitec Bank

Account name: Chantel Ferreira

Account number: 1500652324

Account type: Savings

Branch Code: 470010

The family is still busy arranging with an attorney for a trust to be set up in Damon’s name.

“We are grateful for everybody’s prayers and the unity that the Vryheid community has shown. Some people have made donations already and we want to thank them. Damon’s father has only just started working and doesn’t have a medical aid. We are hoping that the tests that will be conducted once the infection has cleared, will show that there isn’t any permanent damage. We won’t know if Damon has suffered damage to his hearing or sight, or brain damage, until then,” said Cynthia.

Chantel echoed her mother’s gratitude, “I am grateful to everyone who has supported us, for all the prayers and the phone calls. I don’t know what I would have done without them.”

Today, Chantel will take balloons to Damon’s ward. She won’t be able to leave them with him to cheer him up. Due to the strict infection protocol observed in ICU, she will have to take the balloons back home with her when she leaves the hospital… But when he makes it through this, she plans on throwing him the best homecoming celebration she can.