Patient Stories: Compassionate care after child’s near-death drowning

On an average summer day, Lindsey Priester realized that her children, playing in the house nearby while she was cleaning, had gone quiet. She found the door between the playroom and garage unlocked.

“There’s a door from the garage to the pool,” said Priester. “When I saw the door to the playroom unlocked, my heart dropped from my throat into my stomach.”

She found her young toddler son Tap face-down in the pool. Tap was unresponsive, and neighbors called 911. He was transported by ambulance to the PICU at Prisma Health Children’s Hospital, where Tap was ventilated and underwent emergency medical treatment for his near-death drowning experience.

“The doctors, the nurses, the technicians… they were all on the same page, and it was as wonderful an experience as it could be.”

Tap recovered quickly, beating everyone’s expectations, and today is a healthy little boy back to living his everyday life.