Temecula Toddler Makes Dramatic Recovery Following Near Drowning

Tanya Pattridge never wants a parent to go through what she did -- although she counts herself very lucky.

“I am the mother of the toddler who was able to regain consciousness after nearly drowning. After having lived through this event I never want any other parent to live through that experience,” she told Patch.

June 3, 2013 was like any other Monday in the Pattridge household located in the 44800 block of Fern Circle in Temecula.

“Anthony and I woke up to the sound of Alyssa's voice over the baby monitor calling for us,” Tanya recalled. “We got out of bed, went into her room to change her diaper, and were greeted by her huge smile.”

Tanya took care of some morning business, including breakfast and making a routine wellness appointment for her little girl, before getting ready for work. Around 11:30 a.m., she kissed her husband and baby goodbye for the day and headed out.

It was a normal workday in San Marcos. Tanya had just finished working with a customer when she saw a call from Anthony. 

“I answered my phone to the sound of my husband screaming and crying hysterically telling me to come home,” she explained. “My husband then says that our baby had broken the screen door leading to the backyard and had fallen into the pool while he was in the restroom and was now dead.”

Tanya ran to her car and a co-worker took the wheel. Much of the drive was a complete blur, Tanya said, although she remembers a sheriff’s deputy telling her Alyssa was being transported to Rancho Springs Medical Center in Murrieta.

When she arrived at the hospital, she found Anthony in the waiting room. Eventually, a security guard escorted the couple into another area.

“I remember thinking, ‘Why is he not taking us to our baby?,'" Tanya recalled.

“Then my worst fear crept into my mind: ‘They brought us back here to tell us our baby had indeed passed away.’"  

A doctor entered the room and told the Pattridge's that Alyssa’s heart was stopped when paramedics arrived at their home, but during transport they were able to revive her and get a faint pulse and heart beat, Tanya explained.  

Due to her condition, Alyssa had to be transported to Rady Children's Hospital in San Diego.  

“We were finally allowed to go in with our daughter while waiting for transport. I remember walking in and seeing my baby and trying to be strong for her,” Tanya said.

The deputy who Tanya had spoken with over the phone on the frantic drive up from San Marcos was standing next to her baby.

“He had not left her side since he did CPR for her at my house,” Tanya said. 

Once at Children’s Hospital, a medical team quickly took over as Tanya’s family began to arrive.

“My mom and my sister quickly embraced me as my brother hugged my husband. We were all in tears. I remember my brother saying that he hadn't prayed in years and that he was now praying harder than he ever had,” Tanya said.

Anthony and Tanya were allowed to stay in a room with their baby. For two weeks, the little girl was kept in a medically induced coma to reduce the chance of brain swelling.  

“Once they decided to wake her, remove the ventilator, and take her off some of the medications, she began to withdrawal,” Tanya said. “The sight of my baby shaking and vomiting was scary to me, but the nurse and doctors explained that it was to be expected.”

A few days later, the Pattridge’s had a meeting with Alyssa's neurologist who informed the couple he had noticed signs of brain damage in their daughter's EEG and CT scans.  

“He said that our baby may never be the baby we once knew,” Tanya said.

“Anthony and I took this news as a slap in the face,” she continued. “Everything we had been told up to this point was promising. We both sat in the room crying and trying to figure out what to do next.”

But things began to change. The next day, Alyssa smiled.  

“The second I saw her smile I felt a huge weight lifted off my shoulders. My baby recognized me! I grabbed her green bear -- Teddy as she named him -- and she then reaches her arms out for him,” Tanya recalled.

The nurse on duty had a look of disbelief.  

“I picked up my baby and sat in a chair next to her bed. When the doctors came by to do their morning rounds, the nurse and I informed them of what she had done,” Tanya continued.

“They pick up Teddy and show him to her and she reaches out for him once again. They begin to cheer and my baby starts to clap, once again shocking everyone in the room.”

Over the next few days Alyssa quickly began to improve: sitting on her own, talking, eating, and even standing, Tanya said.

“The day we got transferred to the rehab side of the hospital was the day she began to walk with assistance -- and the very next day she was walking on her own,” Tanya continued.

On July 3, the Pattridges had a meeting with Alyssa’s rehab team and were told their baby would be discharged from the hospital the very next day.  

Although the toddler’s departure was not scheduled until close to 11 a.m., the Pattridges arrived early.

Tanya recalled her final minutes at the hospital that morning: “We sign the discharge papers and as we walk out of the hospital I hold back the tears of joy. Anthony and I have been given a miracle. Alyssa was given back to us.”