A Louisiana toddler who nearly drowned in his grandmother’s pool awoke the following day in the hospital with a miraculous memory: being held in the arms of Jesus after falling in the water. He later asked his parents why Jesus has “scratches on his hands?”
The grateful parents credit the power of prayer for their son’s recovery.
Registered nurse Courtney McKee lives in Louisiana with her husband, Brandon, and sons Brody and Max. Max, now 6, was just 2 years and 10 months old when he suffered a near-fatal drowning accident on July 11, 2019.
“It happened here in Louisiana at my mother’s house,” Courtney told The Epoch Times. “It was a beautiful sunny day. [Max] was with my mother and my sister-in-law, with Brody, his older brother, and then another cousin that was playing. I was at work at the hospital. He got out of the pool and wanted to play, so my mom was letting him play a few feet away from her. Then they realized he wasn’t playing anymore.”
The Drowning
Max had been wearing floats in the pool as he did not know how to swim at the time. Leaving the pool, his grandma had helped him remove the floats.“I think he returned to the pool to get some water and a small bucket to play with, they’re not really sure. When he leaned over to get the water, that’s when he might have fell in,” Courtney said.
Courtney’s sister-in-law found Max at the bottom of the pool, unconscious. No one knows exactly how long he was under. Courtney received a panicked call at work and quickly knew something was wrong when she heard sirens in the background.
“I started crying and I remember my coworkers, fellow nurses and doctors alike, surrounded me,” she said. “One of them took my phone and started talking for me. ... I was so numb, I couldn’t even speak.”
Max was admitted to Rapides Regional Medical Center in Louisiana with his lungs swollen and full of fluid.
“He was in severe respiratory distress,” Courtney said. “I was standing in the ER when they brought him in, and they surrounded him and began to work on him. I just remember, being a nurse myself, it was terrifying to watch it happen to my own child.”
The ‘Ultimate Physician’
As Courtney wept with her still-sleeping toddler in her arms, her community caught wind of the accident and prayed for Max’s recovery. Loved ones came to Max’s hospital bedside to pray in person.Courtney and Brandon have always taken their sons to church. They pray together and read Bible stories every night. When Max drowned, the first thing that big brother Brody did was kneel by the pool and pray. The day before Max’s accident, Courtney felt an urgent need to pray for their children, pleading with Jesus to save her babies.
In the hospital, Courtney had to separate herself from her nurse’s knowledge and place her faith in “the ultimate physician,” Jesus. She felt blessed for the “God-ordained” care team that watched over her son. The next morning, Max came to and showed signs that he was his usual self despite his massive ordeal.
“He was a little agitated because he wanted the cords and wires off of him. But he was talking and communicating with us, and we knew at that point he was going to be okay. He was aware of what happened,” Courtney said. “He was in the ICU for a few days. ... We had to see the pediatrician regularly after that: no deficits, nothing wrong with him after the drowning.”
‘Jesus Held Me’
Days after returning home from hospital, Max had another massive shock for his parents.Courtney said: “He just looked at his father and I and he said, ‘When I was in the pool, I wasn’t scared.’ I told him, ‘That’s really good, buddy, I’m proud you weren’t scared,’ and he said, ‘When I was in the pool, Jesus held me.’
“Then he asked us, ‘Why does He have bobos and scratches on His hands?’ I was completely stunned. I just asked him to repeat himself to make sure I was hearing it right. We had never spoken to him about God’s hands, ever, and the way he described Jesus was just chilling.”
Courtney knew that her baby had been held that day and was joyful; she has since heard from several parents who have lost a child that Max’s testimony has given them comfort. “I think it’s something I want people to take away, miracles still happen today. God is real,” Courtney said.
The Power of Prayer
Drowning is among the leading causes of death in children aged 5 and under in the United States, and it can take as little as 30 seconds for a child to drown. Courtney, who has counseled her eldest, Brody, after he witnessed Max’s ordeal, knows that the siblings of children who drown are also affected.
It took around a year for Max to regain the courage to go near water. He has since had swimming lessons and knows how to rescue himself if he falls in. “It was a lengthy process because he was scared, so the instructor was very sensitive to what he had went through,” Courtney said, describing now-6-year-old Max as “full of energy, happy, joyful, and curious.”
The family has shared Max’s testimony with their church and the world through international media, and Max is willing to talk about it with anybody who asks questions.
“More than anything, I think I want people to know that there’s power in prayer,” Courtney said. “Also something I want people to take away from this is that drownings in children are common, and even in a small lapse in supervision, a child can return to the pool. Never take your eyes off the water and never think it can’t happen to you.”
