When we think of pool noodles, we think of children happily splashing around in a pool. But one parent is warning others about the unknown dangers of pool time fun.
Lacey Grace was enjoying a typical day in the pool with her 4-year-old daughter Elianna.
Elianna was playing in her grandparent’s pool with her friend. They were playing with pool noodles when a gush of water shot up at Elianna and went down her throat.
“Elianna was playing in the pool with a “pool noodle” on Saturday, and as many many children do every day, she was blowing in one end and blowing water out the other,” Lacey explaining, according to GoFundMe.
“By 100% freak accident, Elianna put her mouth to blow out at the same time someone blew in the other end, causing the water to shoot directly down her throat. She threw up immediately but didn’t really have any other notable things happen.”
Her daughter was fine a half hour after the incident and even the following day. However, the following day she developed a fever. Her mother didn’t think anything of it.
She sent her daughter to school on Wednesday but the school called and said her fever returned.
“I kept replaying that pool scene in my head and remembered reading a story last year about a Dad in Texas whose son passed away because he went untreated after swallowing a bunch of pool water. I wasn’t going to let that be Elianna,” Lacey said.
She took her daughter straight to the doctor from school. The doctor ended up confirming her hunch.
Things took a rapid turn for the worst at that point.
“We went from school to the urgent care, hoping the doctor would say “her lungs sound great, it’s just viral, etc”. We were there about 10 minutes when the doctor said to get her to the nearest ER as soon as possible. Her heart rate was crazy high, her oxygen was low, and her skin was turning purple which suggested chemical infection.”
Elianna’s X-ray showed that she had inflammation and an infection in her chest from the pool chemicals. The doctors decided to transport her to an even bigger hospital.
She had to be monitored around the clock.
“Elianna has aspiration pneumonia and is now on oxygen and relying on it to breathe. They’ve tried to remove the tubes and give her a chance to breathe on her own but her levels drop quickly. She’s had her second dose of antibiotic but we haven’t seen much relief yet,” Lacey explained.
“Her fevers have continued. Her heart rate has lowered so that is the only good news so far. At least two doctors now have told us ‘thank God you got her here when you did.’ All the major things going wrong are things you would NEVER notice by looking at her.”
Lacey is now warning other parents to immediate that their children to the doctors if they notice something is off after drinking pool water.
“We don’t know how long the road will be but I thank my lucky stars that I read that article of the little boy,” she said. “I will find that article and write that Dad a letter, I promise you. I would have never taken her to the urgent care without that and God only knows how this would have ended.”
If you’d like to donate to the family’s GoFundMe page, you can do so here.
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