Doctors say 13-month-old Erika Eve Nordby is playful and is saying "Mom," "down" and "no" a lot. She has been transferred from the Stollery Children's Health Centre to the regular pediatric ward at the University of Alberta hospital.
Doctors believe the child's heart had stopped beating two hours before she was found face down in the snow in -20 degree C. temperatures, wearing nothing but a diaper early Saturday morning. But her little heart resumed beating on its own after she was rushed to hospital.
Fred Colbourne, a University of Alberta neurologist who specializes in hypothermia, says it's not unusual for the body's organs and cells to survive if they are at low temperatures.
"When someone suffers from cardiac arrest, if they're at a normal temperature, after five minutes the brain is starting to suffer damage and the brain is the more susceptible organ," says Colbourne. "The heart will also suffer damage as time continues, and of course other tissues will as well. But it's long been known that if an organ is cool, it will reduce the damage."
But Colbourne says he has never come across another case where someone has lived after their heart had stopped beating for two hours.
Dr. Alf Conradi, director of the pediatric intensive care unit at the Stollery Centre, is cautiously optimistic little Erika Eve is well on the road to recovery. But he says she will need to be monitored as she grows up to ensure there is no long term brain damage.
"I think it's likely that the future holds a good outcome for this little girl," says Conradi. "But without a doubt, she's going to need close follow-up to see if there have been some very subtle injuries that we cannot detect at this point."
The toddler suffered extensive frostbite to her legs, feet and hands. Doctors say they should know in two weeks whether she'll require surgery.
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