She Nearly Drowned, But Faith Brought Her Back

Danielle and Chris love sharing a meal on the patio with their four daughters - - a weekly tradition at their home in Florida.

So, on August 7th 2018 the couple prepared dinner as usual, while 14-month-old Isabella played outside near her sisters, who had been swimming. But the peace of a seemingly perfect day, was interrupted. “We heard the girls scream outside. A scream that a parent never wants to hear.”

Somehow the toddler slipped out of her life-jacket and went into the pool unnoticed. She had been underwater for several minutes without air when her sisters found her floating, with no sign of life. Danielle, a trained water safety instructor, administered CPR.

“It was just like everything froze for a minute. I would breathe and then I would scream ‘God, I need you.’ I was doing CPR for over nine minutes with nothing, and she finally – it was like God just put breath in her lungs. She didn't wake up or anything like that, but her body just took breath and by that time the first responders were there.”

“Her mom was doing CPR, but in most cases, it’s less than like 25 percent that there's a survival rate. Of course, we had to start an I.V. I intubated her and then I flew her out,” the paramedic said.

Isabella was life-flighted to a Tampa hospital where it was determined she had gone through the five stages of drowning. Her heart was barely beating when she was placed on life support. Refusing to give up on their daughter, Danielle and Chris called on people from all over the world to pray and believe for a miracle.

“Pray, something happened to Isabella.’ Just from that one little text, it basically started like a wildfire prayer. Within 15 or 20 minutes we had people praying,” said Chris.

“So, our first prayer was ‘God, we will serve you regardless of what you do.’ Our second prayer was just that the Lord would give us strength to get through each day. And our third prayer was for complete wholeness,” said Danielle.

So, they prayed and waited by her bedside. Miraculously, Isabella made it through the night. Then, her heart stabilized and on the third day, she awakened from her coma three months sooner than the typical timeline. But doctors said she would never be the same. She was diagnosed with severe brain damage that caused cortical blindness and the loss of motor skills.

"Will she ever be the same baby again? She lost her speech, she lost all her motor skills. She couldn't walk, she couldn't – couldn't see, so that was a big fear.”

“We had had so much bad news from doctors. They had three neurologists on the case and the first neurologist that came in said ‘brain damage’ to both sides of the brain; full brain damage. I told him that, you know, I wasn't going to have – if he could just say brain ‘change’ for now, that would be great because I wasn't going to have him speaking, you know, brain damage over her.”

“We knew that we served a God that was able and so we would just pray. We would pray, ‘God, you did not bring back our daughter from the dead to halfway heal her.’ We would not accept any halfway healing.”

The couple prayed with anticipation. then, on the seventh day, a smartphone recording captured a breakthrough. “There were small glimpses of where we thought she could see us, and the doctor said, ‘No, that's not possible.”

“We kept trying to argue with the doctors and just say, ‘No, she's seeing us.’ And this was kind of just to build our faith. So, we were holding up the camera and recording her and she was just kind of oblivious. She wasn't really looking at us. And we were like, ‘Come on, Isabella. Hey.’ And then, just all of a sudden, she looks at us and just locks eyes and she goes ‘Cheese!’ And we're like, ‘What?!’ We just started crying.”

“That was probably the first thing that she had done before the accident that she was able to do again. That was tears of happiness…because we knew that was a big step. God had healed the blind in that moment.”

From that day on, Isabella astonished the medical staff with her rapid rehabiliation, accomplishing six months worth of rehab in 31 days. On September 6th, 2018, she returned home and just a couple months later she had made a full recovery.

“We always say that, God brought her back and she’s better. She's completely healed, 100%. Actually, we went to the neurologist and they said, for her follow-up appointment that we didn't need them because he was blown away.”

“Just seeing the progression that she’s made, where she’s at now, she’s just a complete miracle.”

“Without God my baby would not be here today. She is just full of personality, full of energy. She's non-stop. She’s a handful but I'm thankful.”

Today, they continue a family tradition of gathering around the table with their girls, a precious answer to prayer. “Our family would not be the same without Isabella. God knew that we needed to keep her. To God be the Glory from beginning to end.”