“It was the most wonderful moment when those little eyes opened and he said, ‘Daddy, Mommy’,” an elated Christiaan Janse van Rensburg said after his one-year-old son, Daniël, woke from a two-week coma this past weekend.
Daniël fell into a swimming pool in Brits on 17 April and was lifeless when his father found him. His grandfather immediately began mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and continued while the family rushed him to hospital. The little boy has since been in a coma and on a ventilator in the intensive care unit (ICU) at Mediclinic Sandton.
Over the weekend, Daniël began breathing on his own again. Doctors were able to remove the ventilator and gradually reduce his sedation. “When he opened his eyes and spoke to us… we saw the hand of God,” an emotional Christiaan said.
“Now he also says ‘tata’, meaning he wants to go home. On Monday we fed him yoghurt, he is drinking his bottle, and he even played a little with his toy car. Doctors are surprised by his progress.”
He added that Daniël is still receiving medication to manage withdrawal symptoms after the heavy sedation. “I joke that he is now in rehab from all the medication he received,” he said.
“Scans have revealed that there is no brain damage, his lungs are healthy, and blood tests show no signs of infection. We thank God for this miracle and everyone who prayed for us. We also saw some negative comments on Facebook, but we pray for those people. When I heard of incidents like this before, I always thought it would never happen to us,” he said.
Daniël remains in ICU while doctors monitor his recovery and wait for the withdrawal symptoms to subside. “Then he might finally be ready to come home. We are so thankful for this miracle we have received.”
