The two-year-old girl who was pulled unconscious with no pulse from the Hawkesbury River on Friday has made a miraculous recovery.
Lily Cross was discovered in the river after going missing from her family’s North Richmond home, west of Sydney, while her mother was changing her younger sibling’s nappy.
Despite being missing for just 15 minutes, Lily was blue and showed no signs of life when her father Michael Cross and paramedics began performing CPR on the toddler, according to The Daily Telegraph.
Lily Cross (pictured), a two-year-old girl who was pulled unconscious with no pulse from the Hawkesbury River on Friday, is expected to make a full recovery
Lily was discovered in the river after going missing from her family’s North Richmond home, west of Sydney, while her mother was changing her younger sibling’s nappy (Careflight is pictured at the scene)
‘We were very, very close to stopping resuscitation — then she just got a flicker of a heartbeat on an ultrasound,’ Dr Chris Cheeseman, a Careflight specialist, told the publication.
Dr Cheesman said he was shocked when the two-year-old’s heart – which he believes had been stopped for up to an hour – suddenly began beating again.
Despite being resuscitated, Mr Cross said doctors didn’t think Lily, who was in critical condition, would survive the drive to the Westmead Children’s Hospital.
‘When we got to the hospital they didn’t think she would make it past a couple of hours. Everyone thought she was brain dead,’ he told The Herald Sun.
A rescuer who helped perform CPR on Lily said he thought she was gone because ‘she was just jelly in [his] arms.’
Despite being missing for just 15 minutes, Lily was blue and showed no signs of life when her father Michael Cross and paramedics began performing CPR on the toddler
The toddler was found floating on the edge of the riverbank in Hanna Park, North Richmond, at about 3pm, according to police (pictured)
Miraculously, a week later the two-year-old is now in stable condition and expected to make a full recovery.
‘I’m absolutely stunned she has made the recovery she has … it is absolutely remarkable,’ Dr Cheeseman said.
Lily has a chest infection from the river but it will clear up, doctors said.
Her ecstatic family are now urging families to make sure their properties are secure and to learn CPR.
Lily’s home backs on to the park – where the she almost drowned