Monash Health in the media: parents praise PICU for saving son

Two years ago, Lief was found face down and unconscious in his family’s swimming pool. 

Today, the four-year-old is thriving – his mother, Melina, telling the Saturday Herald Sun his survival was a ‘miracle’. 

In December 2022, Melina discovered Lief floating in their fenced off pool. 

She pulled him from the water and began chest compressions. 

Her husband, Eddie, was soon by her side assisting with CPR. 

‘I revived him twice, but there was no pulse’, he told the newspaper. 

Lief was rushed to Monash Children’s Hospital, where he was put on a ventilator and placed in an induced coma for five days. 

Melina told the Saturday Herald Sun she and Eddie thought they were going to lose Lief and they were preparing themselves for the moment they would have to turn off his life support.

Incredibly, scans would show Lief’s brain had not been damaged and the slow process of waking him from his coma began. 

‘It was like watching all the lights come back on,’ Melina said. 

Shortly before Christmas, Lief returned home. 

‘It was just amazing to see Lief walk out of our ICU, because when he came in, we were really concerned’, said Dr Sunit Matha, Acting Director of the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit at Monash Children’s Hospital. 

Melina told 10 News First her son’s recovery may not have been possible without a ventilator.

This Christmas, the family are supporting the Monash Health Foundation in fundraising efforts for the purchase of an advanced, highly specialised ventilator for Monash Children’s Hospital. 

‘We want to cater to specific needs, and it is that peace of mind of having the best technology that is out there in the world, to have it available to the most vulnerable lungs and most vulnerable patients that we see’, Dr Matha told the Saturday Herald Sun. 

To donate and help critically ill children, please click here.