What happened
Our son Friedrich is an ordinary, joyful five-year-old. One moment he was swimming on a family holiday. The next he was unconscious underwater, because of an electrical fault in the pool that nobody had warned us about.
Ekaterina was sitting a few metres away. She heard the panic, ran to the pool, and was struck by the same live current. She was briefly paralysed. She still managed to pull Friedrich out of the water and, barely able to stand, started CPR. For several minutes, the longest of our lives, she worked to bring his heartbeat back.
It came back. Our son survived.
“People ask how I did CPR when I could barely stand. I don’t remember deciding anything. He wasn’t breathing, and I was the one who was there.”
Ekaterina Airikh, Friedrich’s mother
Both of them now face a long recovery. Friedrich needs continued neurological and cardiac monitoring after the oxygen loss and the pneumonia that followed the water in his lungs. Ekaterina sustained severe muscle damage, temporary paralysis in both legs, a facial fracture, and has since been diagnosed with PTSD, which she is being treated for while still recovering physically.
It took us nearly a month to be able to write this publicly. Between emergency treatment, hospital stays and preparing the legal case, there was no time or strength left to ask anyone for help.
We have hired lawyers to hold those responsible accountable. Treatment, therapy and the proceedings all continue, and so do the costs. We cannot carry this on our own any more.
