“Asher was a really happy, extremely healthy baby,” Vallery Fleming lovingly says about her son before laughing and adding, “He was the wild child.”

Speaking with Vallery you can hear how proud she is of her son Justin, known to his family by his middle name Asher. Her voice lights up talking about how loving and fun her son was before his accidental drowning at her brother’s home last summer.

At a family gathering, there were five toddler-cousins running around between both Vallery and her brother’s family. They were having the time of their lives, including sweet Asher. Vallery went to take a shower while her sister-in-law finshed preparing dinner. Asher’s father Justin and his brother-in-law hung in the backyard watching the kids.

As dusk approached, the kids were running in and out of the house which made it a harder to keep track of everyone. And unbeknownst to anyone, Asher snuck away to a playhouse located near the deep end of the family’s pool.

“I was going to round the kids up to take them to the table for dinner,” Vallery recalls. “I couldn’t find the two youngest ones at first until one of them passed me and headed into the house. It was getting dark so it wasn’t as easy to see, so when I went by the pool I thought he was a pool float at first.”

Unfortunately, it wasn’t a float at all but instead Asher who had somehow ended up in the pool unable to stay above water. Vallery and her husband jumped in immediately and brought him out.

“Me and my brother started taking turns doing CPR on him,” Vallery tells us. “And my niece called 911 to get an ambulance.”

Vallery didn’t detect a heartbeat in her son while they worked on him tirelessly. She says his heartbeat didn’t fully come back until over 20 minutes later when he was at the hospital.

Asher spent 3 days in a medically induced coma before he was able to be slowly woken up and breath on his own again. Three weeks after that he was incredibly discharged home to start his new amazing journey to recovery.

Now a smiling and loving 2 year old, Asher has made some incredible progress over the past six months, as he’s starting to eat and swallow foods, bare weight on his hands and knees and visually track people and objects around a room. And most importantly, he’s grown. A lot.

To make life easier for Asher and his family, Holton’s Heroes was able to purchase them a brand new adaptive stroller that will support him as he grows even bigger and stronger. This versatile stroller has special lumbar and side supports, as well as a unique five-point safety harness and extra padding around his head and feet. It folds up small and is light enough to take on any excursion.

“The stroller makes it possible for us to go places without having to carry him everywhere,” Vallery told us. “It gives him the extra support he needs and will last for years to come!”

We are only able to continue to help kids recovering from brain injuries with your personal support. Please consider making a tax-deductible gift directly to our foundation today. You can donate safely here.

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