An Australian family is living every parent’s worst nightmare, faced with the impossible, heart-wrenching decision of whether or not to take their toddler off life support.
Kawa Sweeney, the three-year-old pulled unconscious from a Bali pool on Sunday, has been declared brain dead after spending two nights at Princess Margaret Hospital for Children in Perth following medevac.
The young girl has been unresponsive to physical tests and now her parents, Des Sweeney and Dee Tang, are grappling with the next step, according to family spokeswoman, Pearl Tan.
“There’s a lot of disbelief that this has happened and it’s quite difficult to think beyond the next five minutes right now,” Tan said, as quoted by Perth Now.
“I know that the family are just talking and considering what to do next.
“But it’s a pretty tough situation for everyone.”
Kawa has undergone tests at the Perth hospital and doctors found her brain was swelling. At this point, it seems more a matter of ‘when’ than ‘if’, based on what Tan is saying.
“This morning we were waiting for her sodium level to get consistent so they could run some tests. They ran those tests and Kawa was unresponsive,” Tan said on Wednesday.
“Her heart is beating by itself and she’s on medication and life support.
“Basically, they’re just deciding when to let her out of the induced coma.”
Kawa’s fateful accident happened on Sunday afternoon at the Bali villa where her family was staying for a holiday. The three-year-old fell into the pool and was pulled out, unresponsive. An Australian surgeon at the scene performed CPR for 45 minutes, restarting her heart and waiting for further medical attention that reportedly took nearly two hours to come.
Faced with mounting medical costs and the urgent need to medevac her, a crowdfunding page was set up to help get Kawa back to Australia. She was flown to Perth on Monday, because it was closer than her home, Sydney. The family’s pleas clearly resonated with people, raising over $80,000 in the short time since the accident.
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