Central Indiana toddler suffers serious brain damage after near drowning
SEYMOUR, In. (WISH) — For the last two weeks, 22-month-old Maddex Elicio, or Maddie as his family calls him, has been in a hospital gown with tubes in his nose and sensors on his head.
“They gave us a scale of one to 10, saying one was best and 10 was brain dead and they put him about a seven or eight,” said his mom, Christeen Elicio.
On Aug. 13, Maddie slipped out of the back door of his Seymour, Indiana home and into his family’s above ground pool. It was unknown to his mom until his sister ran inside.
“She told us that Maddex got into the pool. I just ran out into the yard and ran up to the pool and I couldn’t see him at first and I looked around but half of it, the sun was shining on it and I couldn’t see in the water. I climbed up the ladder a couple steps and I saw him across the pool and at that moment, I jumped down and I started to run around and my husband, his dad ran out and he got to him before I did,” Christeen said.
Maddie’s dad started CPR when Maddie’s mom remembered seeing two police officers next door.
“The mother of the child, I believe, came out and was hysterical,” said Seymour Police Officer Seth Sage.
“Finally, we got out of her that she needed an ambulance and when we went around the corner of the privacy fence, we saw the baby laying on the ground, he was blue and not breathing.”
The officers put Maddie in their squad car and rushed him to the hospital.
“Maddie would not be here if they did not do what they did,” said Chisteen Elicio.
Maddie has a long road ahead.
“We’re not really sure what the outcome’s going to be he has a lot of brain damage now.”
But Maddie’s family is doing all they can to get him out of his hospital gown.
One of the ways they would like to do that is with hyperbaric oxygen therapy. The family has created a fundraising page to help raise money for the therapy. To help donate, click here.