MESA, AZ — A one-year-old girl who fell into a pool has returned home to continue recovery.
Five days before Christmas, the Mesa Police Department said a one-year-old girl was pulled from a pool around 10:30 a.m. in Mesa. On a GoFundMe page, the family identified her as Lillian and said that she slipped and fell into the pool, and was found by her older brother.
In an update on Lillian's GoFundMe page by her dad, Nathaniel Talboys said Lillian returned home from the hospital on February 21.
"Over the past couple of weeks, Lilly has progressed from not being able to control much of her muscles, to being able to play slightly assisted catch. She can hold her head up for over 20 seconds while on her tummy," writes Talboys. She can roll from her tummy to her back and sides with almost no assist. She is able to sit up with minimal assistance and is starting to use her arms to push herself back up when she falls forward.
Talboys said Lillian is relearning newborn baby skills and is at about a four to six-month-old level in a now 15-month-old body.
"She is clearly a lot happier. We got a full belly laugh out of her from one of her siblings on Saturday and that she's just a happier kid being home," said Talboys. "Our kids definitely feed off our energy and Lily's not going to give up because we're not giving up either."
Lillian is relearning how to sit up and hold her head up. She does speech, physical and occupational therapy six days a week. Talboys said despite overcoming nearly every medical obstacle, there is still a long road of recovery ahead, with no guarantee that Lillian will be back to 100 percent health.
"We were told that she was going to be in a vegetative state and then what she woke up. We were told that she's probably never going to walk or talk again, she's got a pretty good vocal range again," said Talboys. "I feel blessed that I'm able to witness this and it's encouraging like she's trying every single day and she's definitely not giving up."
