A dad told of the horrifying moment he found his four-year-old daughter drowning in the bath.
Harriet Richardson asked her dad Jamie to run her a bath after she started suffering from chickenpox on January 5. As Jamie, originally from Southport and living in Reading, went to get Harriet some pyjamas, the four-year-old suffered a seizure in the bath and went under the water.
Jamie, 31, said: "She was in the bath, happy as Larry. Prior to this I'd done a temperature check - she's susceptible to febrile seizures (fits that can happen when a child has a fever). Her temperature was fine, 36.5.
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"It got to about quarter to four and I said 'I'll go get your pyjamas and I'll be right back.' I went and got her pyjamas, and when I got back she'd had a seizure in the bath and gone under the water.
"Unless you've actually been in the scenario you don't believe it's happening. You think this must be a joke.
"I couldn't believe this was happening to me and I couldn't believe this was happening to Harriet. I scooped her out of the bath, she was in respiratory arrest. It was horrific."
Jamie called 999 and started doing CPR after discovering Harriet was not breathing. Jamie said: "I was doing CPR for 12 and a half minutes and I found a heart beat under my hand. At this point the paramedics had taken over."
Harriet was taken to Royal Berkshire Hospital where she was placed into a medically induced coma. She was then transferred to John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford where she remained in an induced coma for ten days.
Jamie said: "They placed her in a neurologically preserved state, which means her body was totally cooled down in order to make sure we preserve as much of her brain as possible from the brain damage she's received."
The four-year-old also sustained a hypoxic brain injury caused by a lack of oxygen to the brain, and must now learn how to walk, talk and even smile again. Harriet's aunties, Lorna and Lucy Richardson, have set up a fundraiser to help support the family as Harriet continues her rehabilitation.
Jamie told the ECHO: "Harriet is one of those little girls where if there was a party and she walked in, everyone knew about it. Harriet is the most wonderful human being anyone could wish for.
"She has absolutely gone through hell over the past few weeks."
Jamie said Harriet had previously suffered from a febrile seizure in a restaurant at the age of two, and was now taking medication to help regulate her temperature. Doctors believe the most likely cause of the seizure on January 5 was an underlying epileptic fit.
She is due to be transferred to a specialist unit at The Children's Trust in Tadworth, Surrey on April 13, where she will continue her rehabilitation. Jamie said: "She is showing really positive signs. The medical staff are absolutely incredible here.
"She's showing signs of awareness and she's having lots of physio, lots of speech therapy and occupational therapy."
Jamie said he and his wife Kimberley Richardson, 29, are "humbled" by how much support they've received so far.
In a message on the fundraising page, they said: "We have been inundated with support, it’s appreciated through our darkest moments more than we could ever explain. Times are hard all round right now but a crowdfunding page has been asked time and time again by lots of very lovely people so if you are able to help at all we would be very grateful."
To visit the Gofundme page click here.
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