On February 21, 2020, Nathalie Salley put her 23-month-old son, King, down for a nap, with plans to take him to his cousin’s birthday party when he woke up.
But an hour later, King unexpectedly got up early and left his room undetected. He made his way into the backyard, where he noticed his new ball floating in the pool. King, unable to swim, entered the pool to retrieve the toy, but wasn’t able to keep his head above water. Minutes later, King’s father, Demetriouse, found his son floating on the surface of the pool and immediately jumped in to pull him out while his wife called 911.
Nathalie recalls that it took paramedics around 90 minutes to get a pulse again as they raced King to a nearby hospital. Although they’d hoped he would be able to return home soon, King ended up spending more than two months in the pediatric intensive care unit, as the anoxic brain damage he’d suffered required him to receive a g-tube and tracheotomy to help with feeding and breathing.
“Our first trip in the stroller is a doctor appointment he is knocked out,” King’s mom Nathalie told us in a Facebook message with photographic proof. ;)
There’s never a good time for a near-drowning accident, but right as a deadly worldwide pandemic changed the way we live was certainly among the worst.
“We are only allowed to have one parent every 12 hours,” Nathalie wrote on her son’s Gofundme page 41 days after the drowning. “King is still a really strong fighter and [has] been wonderful through all of this. I can’t express how much I miss my baby [and] what I would do for just a little smile or hear that little voice call me.”
Now back home in southern Florida, but still dealing with the effects of COVID-19, King and his family are trying to get back to normal, while making sure to protect his now-compromised immune system. Even amidst COVID-19, King’s mother will stop at nothing to get her son the support he needs and continues to expertly advocate for his future.
“We have been trying to do everything in our power to get him back right and make everything as comfortable as possible,” she told us. “We are now 7 months post accident. Things are still hard and we’re still trying to get used to everything. I really can’t put my words down yet because every day I still pray and wish that he wakes up and snaps out of this—and gets back to me.”
Holton’s Heroes unfortunately cannot help with Nathalie’s heartrending wish, but we are able to improve the quality of his life and take some financial burdens away from his parents. Thanks to our donors, King received a brand-new adaptive stroller that will give him many years of use, as well as a specialized floor seater for the home.
Currently, King still suffers from daily brain storming due to seizure activity in addition to uncontrollable muscle spasms. If you’d like to directly help King and his family, they’ve set up a Gofundme page that we invite you to visit.
“I can’t wait to take him out for more daily walks! Thank you so much.”
On Father’s Day in 2017, 2-year-old Josiah was running around his home, excitedly zooming from room-to-room , as he typically did. However, in a matter of seconds he managed to elope out of the back door undetected and make his way to the family pool. Read Josiah’s amazing tale of recovery now.