Eden Carlson Miracles/YouTubeHeroic doctors have managed to reverse the brain trauma of a toddler, over a year after falling into a swimming pool left her with brain damage.
Brave 2-year old Eden Carlson from Fayetteville, Arkansas nearly drowned back in February 2016 before her mother managed to pull her from the pool.
Eden’s mum performed CPR on the little girl until local doctors arrived. At this point, Eden had no pulse and was not breathing.
The doctors were able to revive Eden an agonising two hours later. She had been without a heartbeat for the entire two hours had also suffered a heart attack.
Eden Carlson Miracles/YouTubeThe lack of oxygen due to being in the water for 15 minutes led to a very serious brain injury and the child was left without the ability to speak, walk or respond to verbal cues.
After the nightmare incident, Eden spent a gruelling 48 days in critical care before she was discharged. It was initially presumed that the brain damage was too extensive and that nothing more could be done.
Her parents were advised that she would never walk or talk again and would remain in a vegetative state…
However, hyperbaric specialist Dr Paul Harch from LSU Health New Orleans was not ready to give up on the little girl and wanted to try out a course of oxygen therapies to help heal her unresponsive brain.
Eden Carlson Miracles/YouTubeFirst of all, Eden was given oxygen treatments at normobaric (sea) level. Dedicated doctors administered this treatment for 55 days after the incident, two times a day for 45 minutes.
Amazingly, this helped her to recapture movement of her arms and hands. She even regained the ability to partially eat and could speak for short intervals.
Such skills would have seemed impossible in the days following the accident…
Eden Carlson Miracles/YouTubeThen came the next phase of treatment. Eden was transferred to a hospital in New Orleans where there was a hyperbaric chamber and it was here that she began her hyperbaric (pure) oxygen therapy.
This treatment effectively helped to ‘wake up’ Eden’s brain and repair the damaged tissue.
After just 10 treatment sessions, Eden’s mum reported that she was back to ‘near normal’.
Eden could even apparently walk and talk better than she had done before her accident and showed notable improvements in all neurological, motor function and cognition tests.
Eden Carlson Miracles/YouTubeDoctors say that these intensive treatments helped to bring down brain swelling and encouraged brain cells to keep surviving. Incredible…
According to Dr Paul Harch:
The startling regrowth of tissue in this case occurred because we were able to intervene early in a growing child, before long-term tissue degeneration,
In order to learn more about Little Eden’s enormous recovery journey, check out the following video:
A year later and this traumatic damage has been almost completely reversed, however the adorable toddler has had a long journey to get to this miraculous point in her recovery….
Its stories like this that make you realise the amazing work that doctors do everyday.
Jules studied English Literature with Creative Writing at Lancaster University before earning her masters in International Relations at Leiden University in The Netherlands (Hoi!). She then trained as a journalist through News Associates in Manchester. Jules has previously worked as a mental health blogger, copywriter and freelancer for various publications.