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Parents Set On Baby Girl's Recovery

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By D'ANN LAWRENCE WHITE

The Tampa Tribune

Published: April 2, 2008

VALRICO - It was probably no more than two minutes; five minutes at the most.

Stacey Smith had gone into the house while her 15-month-old daughter, Ashlyn, played on the screened back porch of their Bloomingdale East home. When Smith returned to the porch, her daughter was nowhere to be found, and the porch door was standing open.

From that moment on, Smith said she can recall only flashes of what happened. She said it took weeks before she could bring herself to talk about that day five weeks ago.

"They say teens always think they're invincible, that nothing will ever happen to them," Smith said. "Well, we do the same thing. We think these things always happen to someone else, that it will never happen to us. Now I know it can happen to anyone."

Stacey and Scot Smith moved into their home in August with their children, Ashlyn, Austin, 13, and Alex, 11. It is the ideal location, near Stacey's parents and down the street from Cimino Elementary School, where she teaches autistic children.

However, the house wasn't perfect. It needed a few improvements, including a child safety fence around the swimming pool. They planned to have a fence installed right away. In the meantime, they agreed to keep the porch doors latched so Ashlyn wouldn't have access to the pool without supervision.

It didn't work out that way, however. Scot Smith was laid off from his job, and money got tight before he found a new one. They decided to wait until they received their income tax return before purchasing the pool fence.

That decision nearly cost them their daughter's life.

Stacey Smith said she will not forget the anguish of seeing her daughter lying facedown in the pool.

Austin, she said, "was my knight in shining armor. He called 911, and the operator refreshed me on CPR because I couldn't remember all the steps. But Ashlyn wasn't breathing. There was no response at all. Then a police officer arrived and rushed her to the paramedics out front. I just lost it. I was hysterical. My son had to call his father and my parents. Without the emergency people and doctors and nurses, my daughter would not be here."

She and her husband arrived at Brandon Regional Hospital and were told Ashlyn was breathing but in critical condition and needed to be transferred to St. Joseph's Children's Hospital in Tampa. Stacey Smith rode with her in the ambulance and remained by her side for the next 36 hours.

"You could tell by the way the doctor was talking that he didn't think she would live," she said.

Smith didn't leave the hospital until her daughter was released March 6.

She said doctors can't yet assess how much brain damage Ashlyn suffered. When she was released from the hospital, she was in a semicoma, and her cerebral cortex wasn't functioning, so she couldn't see.

The Smiths were determined to do whatever they could to help their daughter. One doctor told Stacey Smith that oxygen treatments are the best medicine for people who have been deprived of oxygen.

"He said oxygen would heal the brain," she said.

She began researching the subject and discovered an advocate in her own backyard.

Mark Fowler is a member of the Selama Grotto Cerebral Palsy Endowment of St. Petersburg, which provides hyperbaric oxygen treatments free to people with diseases and disorders, including diabetes, autism, seizures, cancer and brain damage caused by car accidents and near drownings.

The Smiths contacted Fowler and began getting Ashlyn one-hour treatments in a hyperbaric chamber five days a week. The treatments are considered untraditional and, therefore, are not covered by health insurance. Each treatment normally costs $250.

Since starting the treatments, Ashlyn has regained some of her eyesight.

"We're making a little bit of progress every day. We've come a long way, but we've got a long way to go," Stacey Smith said. "The miracle is that she's here. But I keep praying for the ultimate miracle - that she'll recover."

"This is just one family that has been helped by these treatments," Fowler said. "Can you imagine how many more are out there? This young family couldn't afford the $20,000 in treatments this child needed."

Fowler said that's why his Mason-affiliated organization formed the endowment. Working with Paul Harch, a hyperbaric medicine, diving and emergency physician, the organization has purchased five hyperbaric chambers so it can offer free treatments. Two of the chambers are in Fowler's home. He can treat six children a day per chamber.

He said he became a believer after seeing remarkable improvements in his 7-year-old grandson, who suffered from a seizure disorder and wasn't expected to live past age 2.

Since then, Fowler said, he has seen some miraculous recoveries. For example, a diabetic man had a foot with gangrene that was scheduled to be amputated until it was cured by oxygen treatments, he said.

The endowment is trying to raise $10 million to build the world's largest hyperbaric chamber center in St. Petersburg, featuring 12 hospital-grade hyperbaric chambers, imaging equipment, biofeedback equipment and physical, speech and occupational therapy services.

"This will allow us to turn many tragedies like Ashlyn's around," Fowler said.

Meanwhile, the Smiths' friends and neighbors are doing what they can to help the family. Stacey Smith has taken a leave of absence from work to care for Ashlyn, who is on a feeding tube and requires braces, splints and a custom stroller to keep her neck and limbs in alignment.

Smith said she treasures the warm welcome they received from their neighbors when they brought Ashlyn home from the hospital.

"There were balloons everywhere, and they gave us a huge welcome-home party and barbecue," Smith said. "This street is amazing. I'm in awe. You don't see neighbors coming together like that in today's society."

Her co-workers at Cimino were equally supportive, pooling their money to buy a pool fence for the family.

From 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday the Smiths' church, St. Andrew's United Methodist Church, 3315 Bryan Road, will host a yard sale and drawing to benefit the family.

Although Smith doesn't know why this tragedy happened to her family, she does know it has changed the way they view life.

"Your priorities change," she said. "You enjoy life more when you know that it can be taken away at any time. You don't take anything for granted. And that includes law enforcement, paramedics, firefighters, doctors, nurses and 911 operators. They're all heroes. I can't thank them enough."

Most importantly, Smith hopes her story serves as a wake-up call for other families that may be putting off purchasing a pool fence.

"All it takes is a split second," she said. "I'll never know, but if by telling my story I can save just one life, it'll be worth it."

HOW YOU CAN HELP

Donations for the yard sale to benefit the Smith family are being accepted from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. through Friday at the office of St. Andrew's United Methodist Church, 3315 Bryan Road. For information about the fundraiser, contact Michelle Ernest at (813) 655-6786 or michelle.ernest@verizon.net. The yard sale is from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at the church.

FIND OUT MORE

For information about hyperbaric chamber treatments, call

Mark Fowler at (727) 866-9027 or e-mail info@hyperbaric center.org. He is a member of the Selama Grotto Cerebral Palsy Endowment of St. Petersburg, which provides hyperbaric oxygen treatments to people with medical concerns.

Reporter D'Ann Lawrence White can be reached at (813) 657-4524 or dlwhite@tampatrib.com.

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