Doctor: Cold water helped save boy's life

The boy spent more than an hour July 9 with his legs trapped by rocks in a chilly pool below Dougan Falls on Washington's Washougal River. His core temperature dropped to 84 degrees as bystanders worked to hold his head above water.

Bystanders and rescue workers finally pulled him free with a rope. He was given cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) three times.

"We thought we were going to bury our child," Charlie Prom said Thursday. "It was that close."

Dr. Mark Buchholz treated the teen in intensive care at Legacy Emanuel Hospital in Portland.

The doctor says the cold water cooled the boy's body, so that by the time he lost consciousness, his brain needed less oxygen. Kea's heart and lungs took most of the damage, preserving his brain function, the doctor told reporters Thursday.

"Warm water and you're dead," Buchholz said, but Kea was trapped in cold water from the neck down.

Such a happy outcome is rare. Buchholz said the teen is the second patient he's seen survive out of the nearly 75 serious drowning cases he's handled in 14 years.

"His lungs weren't functioning, his heart wasn't functioning," the doctor said. "For all intents and purposes he was dead."

Now Buchholz says the teen is in rehabilitation and out of danger.

"I think I made it because a lot of people helped me out," the boy said from a chair in his hospital room.

It's not clear when he'll be released from the hospital but Buchholz said the boy will be ready for his first day as a freshman at Wilsonville High School. He's currently working on fine motor skills like writing.

His mother read aloud a message he wrote for reporters: "Thank God for giving me another chance. Thanks to everyone who never gave up on me, at the incident and at the hospital."

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)