West Buffalo Township, Penn. 22-month-old Gardell Martin was in the backyard, playing with his brothers when he somehow fell into an icy stream near his home and was swept away.
A neighbor found the boy a half-hour later lifeless, face down in 34-degree water.
Emergency crews were called to the scene.
They got him into an ambulance and out of the clothes as quickly as they could.
CPR was performed as they rushed him to the hospital, But Gardell was without a pulse for more than an hour and a half.
“He did not have a pulse and he wasn’t breathing on his own and he had no neurologic function. All of those things were being done for him with the CPR and the breathing that was being done through the E-T tube,” said Dr. Richard Lambert of Geisinger Pediatric Critical Care.
“There was no signs of life for an hour and 41 minutes.”
Gardell’s body was in a hypothermic-like state.
He was slowly warmed and his pulse and heart rate eventually returned.
Doctors will continue to monitor him, but at this point there is every indication Gardell is well on his way to a full recovery.
