CPR performed after toddler pulled from water at Fairfield West
UPDATE: The young boy who was found motionless in a pond at a Fairfield house is fighting for his life at the Children’s Hospital Westmead. Two-year-old Henry Tran was rushed to hospital, in the latest of a string of drownings and near drownings.
NSW
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The young boy who was found motionless in a pond at a Fairfield house is fighting for his life at the Children’s Hospital Westmead.
The family of two-year-old toddler Henry Tran says he is critical in the hospital’s intensive care unit.
“We just got an update ... Henry is in intensive care and he’s critical,” said the boy’s cousin, Amy Ung.
“His parents are with him ... they are Buddhists so they are very hopeful.
“Please just pray for him. Send him your prayers.”
Emergency services were called to McGee Pl, Fairfield West at 10.20am. They said the two-year-old had been discovered in a pond earlier.
Initially, paramedics were going to land a helicopter nearby and fly him to hospital. They later decided to drive the toddler to Westmead Children’s Hospital with a police escort.
It is believed he fell into a water feature or pond in the home’s yard.
Ms Ung gave the young boy CPR when he was discovered floating in the tiny pond in their backyard.
She urged parents to watch their children closely this summer as the state’s drowning toll continues to rise.
“We were just sitting in the backyard chatting to each other and he disappeared and no one noticed,” she said.
“You can’t keep your eye off them for a moment.
“There are always designated drivers for people who drink and I think we need the same thing for watching young ones.
“They need someone watching them at all times.”
Henry’s parents, Vin and My Tran are waiting by his hospital bed.
“We were showing them mum’s beautiful garden from the back and by the time I said ‘where’s your other child’, dad went back and saw him in the pond,” Ms Ung said.
A neighbour who heard screams and rushed next door to help said the boy was barely responding to compressions.
“I came out and saw the boy lying on the ground ... he was already unconscious and they were yelling ‘help, help, help’,” said Ramsey Vong, 33, a chef who recently bought the house next door.
“I was breathing into his mouth and water came out but his eyes were closed.
“We tried and I hope so much that we saved him.”
The incident follows a drowning in Macquarie Fields that saw a two-year-old girl die after being pulled lifeless from a backyard pool.
The girl was found just after 6pm at the house in Atchison Rd. Desperate paramedics performed CPR at the scene to try to revive her before taking her to Liverpool Hospital, where she was pronounced dead late last night.
A neighbour said: “We saw a person laying on the grass out the front and then all the police came and they were everywhere. It’s shocking this has happened, it is so sad.”
Another neighbour said there had been a party at the home on New Year’s Eve.
Channel 9 is reporting the toddler’s uncle noticed the pool gate was open and shortly after discovered the little girl unconscious in the pool.
Today, the uncle — who only wished to be known as Jason — said the entire family was devastated.
“She is everything to us and though she’s gone now she will forever be in our hearts and minds,” he said in an emotional tribute to the girl.
“We love you always.”