MANALAPAN, NJ — In the midst of fears about coronavirus, there are some other very real dangers in life. And they can happen when we’re all quarantining at home, such as this near-fatal childhood drowning that happened in Manalapan on April 22.

That was the mid-spring evening a 2-year-old boy accidentally fell into his family’s swimming pool, the very first day his parents opened it for the season. In fact, his parents even opened the pool early this year so the family would have something to do while stuck at home.

The toddler, completely blue when his mother pulled him out and who had to be put on a ventilator, is now completely back to himself, she said. Thanks to the quick actions of his parents, who began CPR, plus Manalapan police and the Englishtown-Manalapan First Aid Squad, the boy’s life was saved.

His mom, Graciela Saldua Price, wants to go public with the story to prevent future childhood drownings, she said.

The near-tragedy happened just after 6:30 p.m. on April 22, according to Manalapan police. Price publicly posted the story on Facebook this week, and also talked to Patch about the incident.

“We would like to tell our story in hopes that this would help prevent a potential tragedy for any other family,” she posted. “Due to the quarantine, we decided to open our pool early by a few weeks. Since we are home, and if the weather is nice, we can go. The day it was opened (April 22), our two-year-old, Marc, decided to be extra curious.”

Price said the toddler was by himself for a short period of time, despite multiple people home. “It was a whirlwind of things (that) had to go wrong, which did,” she wrote.

“Marc managed to unlock our kitchen door and walked down the stairs to our backyard and explored the pool,” she wrote. “When I got out of the shower I saw a figure in the pool and didn’t think anything of it until seconds after I heard my other son, Derek, looking for Marc. I ran for my life literally and when I saw our kitchen door opened I knew it was Marc in the pool. I jumped in and was able to get him out, but he was unresponsive — he was literally blue and his lips were black.”

Price said she started giving the boy CPR, but with no response. Shortly after, her husband came home, called 911 and took over CPR, “blowing air into his mouth and trying to get him back,” she wrote.

The police and Englishtown-Manalapan First Aid Squad, which also posted on Facebook Monday about the incident, arrived on the scene. The First Aid Squad said that “upon arrival the child’s parents were already performing high-quality CPR.”

Price said she took a CPR/AED class at work, but it was only for adults.

“My husband doesn’t have formal CPR training, but he knew enough,” she told Patch. “The doctors told us that even if it was wrong, it may have helped get his blood circulating.”

Manalapan police officers Ptl. Matt Porricelli, Ptl. Adam Sosnowski, Ptl. Sean McCarthy, Ptl. Charles Alaimo and Ptl. Jason Vigneault arrived at the home, and Porricelli and Sosnowski took over giving life-saving CPR while McCarthy assisted with medical equipment.

“They were able to find a pulse and put Marc on oxygen,” Price wrote. “By the time he was in the ambulance, his heart was beating and he was marginally breathing thanks to the EMTs and police officers’ actions.”

“Through the police officers’ and EMS crews’ quick actions, (emergency personnel) were able to get the young man to expel some of the water in his system,” Englishtown-Manalapan First Aid posted on Facebook. “As we quickly packaged him and brought him to the ambulance we had already noticed he was no longer pulse-less, and was beginning to breath and respond.”

The boy was rushed north to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, a trauma center. The ambulance carrying him raced up Rt. 9 with Manalapan, Marlboro, Old Bridge, East Brunswick and New Brunswick police providing an escort to get cars out of their way.

At the hospital, the child was immediately listed in critical condition.

“Due to the severity of Marc’s condition, he was intubated (put on a ventilator) and was on breathing support for a few days,” she wrote.

However, the young boy quickly began to recover.

“His condition went from critical to stable in just a couple of days, and soon after his recovery began,” she wrote. “We are so very lucky that he came out of the situation like a champ with no long-term health issues. This is a true miracle.”

Now just two weeks later, Price said her son is truly “100 percent back to himself,” and running and playing in the yard with his older brother.

“My son is doing great! He’s perfect, like nothing ever happened. It’s a miracle!” she said.

She said police officers, EMTs, the staff at Clark Mills Elementary School, which Derek attends, and Manalapan Deputy Mayor Susan Cohen have been checking on the family constantly.

Price said she wanted to tell her son’s story so publicly to spread awareness of accidental backyard drownings. She also said she knows many families who opened their pools early during the quarantine.

“We really hope that no other family has to go through this. One of the EMTs shared with us the other day that typically less than 8 percent of cases like this have a happy ending like we have,” she said.

“Manalapan-Englishtown has really been nothing but GREAT and we are so happy to call this our home,” she continued. “We have taken measures to ensure this will never happen again.”

Click Here: West Coast Eagles Guernsey