Posted Date: 7/8/2008
Tulare toddler's uncle resuscitated him after pool incident on Friday.
It was supposed to be a typical Fourth of July filled with barbecue, swimming and fireworks.
But for Jennifer Wirth and her family, Friday's holiday turned into near tragedy. The Tulare woman's 2-year-old son, Tony Gutierrez, Jr., nearly drowned in a 4-foot-deep area of his grandmother's pool.
"You look away for a second, and that's all it takes," she said Monday.
Wirth said she went inside her mother's home in Visalia to get something, while her mother watched Tony and her two other children in the pool. Somehow, the toddler managed to swim away from the shallow end of the pool.
What happened next was almost a blur, Wirth said.
"My mom came in shouting we need to call 911," she said.
Wirth's fiancée pulled his seemingly lifeless body from the pool. Tony's small lips were blue.
Wirth immediately performed CPR to no avail.
"He wasn't breathing and he had no pulse," she said through tears. "I was just hysterical."
At that point her brother-in-law, Ralph Garcia, arrived. Garcia, an emergency room technician at Kaweah Delta Urgent Care, who's studying to become a registered nurse, applied the resuscitation techniques he's learned.
"I just thought, 'Help him,' " Garcia said.
After two minutes Tony started breathing but remained unconscious.
He was taken to Kaweah Delta Medical Center and later flown to Children's Hospital Central California, where he was placed in intensive care, Wirth said.
A breathing tube helped Tony throughout Friday night and early the next day.
He regained consciousness at 6:30 a.m. Saturday, and the breathing tube was removed as the toddler began moving his small body and tried talking to his relatives.
Later that night, Tony seemed to be back to normal, asking to go outside with his siblings.
"Everybody was surprised of how good he was doing," Wirth said. "When he took a bath at the hospital [Sunday], it was like he was fine and dandy as always."
No trace of the near drowning was visible on the toddler's smiling face Monday. Tony was busy flexing his "muscles," with brother Joseph Renteria, 9, guiding him. Tony also showed off playful punches and kicks on his big brother.
"He's back to his playful self," Joseph said.
Tony will see a neurologist in a couple of weeks to make sure he suffered no brain damage. Meanwhile, Wirth is grateful her son is back at home — and that Garcia was around Friday.
"I just want to thank him," she said. "I'm just so glad he was there and was able to help Tony."
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