PHOENIX — Sebastian Saucedo is only days away from turning two years old.
It's a birthday his mother, Danitza Maldonado is grateful for because it's a birthday doctors weren't confident he'd reach.
"Honestly, l think that like if I had not held on to God the entire time, I don't think that I would have been able to do it," Maldonado said.
Maldonado's world turned upside down six weeks ago on a vacation in Oceanside, California, when her son crawled through the doggy door of the house they were staying in.
Saucedo fell into a small pond in the backyard.
"I was like screaming, but I didn't feel like I was in my body, but I could hear myself screaming," Maldonado said.
Medics at a nearby training center could hear Maldonado's screams. The first responders rushed to the scene and worked to restart the toddler's heart.
"He was without a pulse for 30 minutes," Maldonado said.
Maldonado said her son was taken to Rady Children's Hospital in San Diego where Maldonado said doctors told her Saucedo would likely never breathe on his own again.
"I said, 'I just want him to be a normal kid and grow up and ride a bike and get married and do all these things,' and the doctor said he'll never do that," Maldonado said.
However, Maldonado never lost hope and Saucedo never stopped fighting.
The toddler was transported to Phoenix Children's Hospital where Maldonado said a ventilator was removed and Saucedo did breathe on his own again.
"Once we started the normobaric oxygen therapy, it was like a few days and suddenly his eyes opened," Maldonado said.
Saucedo went home this week after more than a month in the pediatric intensive care unit.
"He's already swallowing, sucking. He'll like eat ice chips," Maldonado said. "He like communicates with us, like he'll kick and he'll grunt when he's upset. He'll smile if he's you know like happy."
The road to recovery is far from over.
Saucedo will soon start hyperbaric oxygen therapy in Tucson and physical therapy after that.
Maldanado said she believes both therapies are promising and she hopes it will allow her son to live a full life.
"I know he'll make a recovery. I don't know if he'll make a full recovery. I absolutely don't know that. There's no way for me to know that but I do know my son is fighting very hard to come back," Maldonado said.
Maldonado said these therapies aren't covered by her insurance. She started a GoFundMe page to help pay for medical bills. Anyone who wishes to donate can click here.
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