Community rallies behind young drowning victim

As young Liam Fraser-Bothma lay in a hospital bed fighting for his life in the days following his accidental near-drowning in a bathtub in his Little Fourways Village home on 9 June, the Fourways community rallied behind the little fighter.

According to Fraser-Bothma’s uncle, Kevin Aldridge, the 15-month-old spent the first few days after the incident sedated and on a ventilator in order to keep him as restful as possible. By the evening of 12 June, Fraser-Bothma had been weaned off the adrenaline, and had a stable blood pressure, as he started feeding through a nasogastric tube while still sedated.

Meanwhile, community members were active in praying for Fraser-Bothma’s recovery and demonstrating their support for his family. In a bid to keep community members informed, Aldridge set up a Facebook page called Liam Fraser-Bothma Update in order to inform the community of the developments and, within the first 24-hours, over 1 000 community members had liked the page.

Speaking to Fourways Review on 10 June, Aldridge said Fraser-Bothma’s parents, Sean and Natalie, were grateful for the ‘incredible support’ from friends, family, colleagues, church community and family. “Liam is still stable but critical. We’re literally taking it one hour at a time,” said Aldridge.

Community members were first made aware of the incident on the evening of 9 June when the intersection of Leslie and Troupant avenues in Magaliessig was closed to traffic in order to clear the area for a medical helicopter to land.

Read: The 411 on drowning

Netcare911 media liaison officer Athlenda Mathe confirmed that the Netcare911 response vehicle and ambulance were dispatched at about 6.03pm on 9 June to attend to the incident and that reports from the scene indicated that the child had had a near-drowning incident in a bathtub.

“When we arrived, we found that the boy had no pulse and was not breathing. Our paramedics initiated CPR for about 20 to 30 minutes,” said Mathe.

Spokesperson for Emer-G-Med Max Cohen said Emer-G-Med paramedics were also dispatched to attend to the incident and on arrival at 6.05pm, they found Netcare911 paramedics performing CPR on the child. Cohen said, “Paramedics immediately initiated a full Advanced Life Support resuscitation, performing multiple life-saving procedures in an attempt to get the child’s heart beating again.”

Mathe said when they got a pulse back, the Netcare911 Aeromedical Helicopter was dispatched to the scene, and Cohen described how Fraser-Bothma was transported by ambulance to the corners of Leslie and Troupant avenues, and then the Netcare911 Aeromedical Helicopter transported him to Netcare Garden City Hospital where a team of paediatric intensivists were waiting.

Mathe explained that the child was taken to Netcare Garden City Hospital as it holds the Paediatric Drowning Centre of Excellence. “All the specialists that deal with children that have had near-drowning incidents are found in this hospital,” said Mathe.

Aldridge said, “The paramedics were incredible, for which we are deeply grateful!”

The family continues to be appreciative of the medical support, as Aldridge added that at the hospital Fraser-Bothma was under the care of a doctor known as ‘the doctor who never gives up’.

On a spiritual note, community members also refused to give up hope as they continued to post messages of support and hold little Fraser-Bothma in their prayers. “We trust in a sovereign God and trust in his will and trust his will would be a full recovery,” said Aldridge.

The family’s trust in God is reflected in Fraser-Bothma’s name too, as ‘Liam’ was coined by amalgamating the Lion of Judah and the Lamb of God, Aldridge explained.

Further, on 12 June, Fraser-Bothma’s father, Sean, took to the Facebook page to describe his faith and experience. “I am amazed on how wrong we sometimes see God. I can’t even get the words to describe this experience with Liam … Here is a dad that lost his firstborn son and could lose his 2nd child but yet he has got peace and joy. How do you explain that in the eyes of the world? You just can’t. Glory to God for what he has done and still going to do. Not just for me but all of us.”

At the time of going to press, this was the latest on Fraser-Bothma’s condition, however, Fourways Review is following the developments of the little fighter closely and will update on its website as soon as more information comes to light.

Follow the developments on Liam Fraser-Bothma’s condition on this website.

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