JOSHUA AND THE ANGELS
a story to warm your heart
The Perth Sunday Times of 19th August 2001 ran a front page article to warm the heart, even that of the most petrified sceptic. Their journalist, Gary Adshead told the story of little Joshua Van De Klashorst and his inspirational triumph over death and scientific certainty.
One wet Sunday afternoon last August while his parents were distracted two year old Joshua had slipped silently into the family's back-yard swimming pool . Although the pool was surrounded by security fencing the gates had been left propped open from the previous night.
Joshua had been playing happily in the garden with his three elder sisters when a little later Mr Van De Klashorst was moved to look out of the window. He raced to the pool dived in and pulled Joshua out while his wife telephoned for an ambulance. Little Joshua had no pulse. Gently performing CPR on his tiny son Mr Van De Klashorst continued until the paramedics arrived. Speeding to the hospital the paramedics traced a faint pulse but Joshua was still not breathing and his brain was in imminent danger of oxygen starvation.
The hospital emergency team pulled out all the stops in a desperate bid to resuscitate the limp little body but after 40 tense and fruitless minutes little Joshua Van De Klashorst was pronounced dead.
From the hospital, shocked by the overwhelming tragedy the distraught Mrs Van De Klashorst rang her family in Eastern Australia to tell them that her adored little son had died. As Joshua's bereaved parents sat with the police chaplain discussing painful subjects like the autopsy and organ donation a policeman noticed something. Joshua seemed to be breathing, but they decided that it was just gasses escaping from his body.
Twenty minutes later Joshua' was showing such insistent signs of life that a doctor and a nurse began working on him again. He was rushed to Princess Margaret Children's Hospital where - nearly 2 hours after his dad pulled him out of the swimming pool - he was declared alive.
The Sunday Times journalist suggests two scientific possibilities for Joshua's apparent resurrection but states, "...there has been no concrete explanation given for it."
"Bodies exposed to extremely cold water - less than 5C - have been known to shut down while maintaining a barely detectable pulse.
As the body warms up the organs begin to function.
Another phenomenon occurs when people hit water face first.
Known as a diving reflex, blood rushes to the brain rather than the skin or other organs and feeds the brain oxygen."
All that Joshuas parents know is that their little lad came back from clinical death.
"We were just so happy to have him alive," Mrs Van De Klashorst told Gary Adshead.
Despite medical predictions that Joshua would certainly suffer massive brain damage there appears to be none. Instead of the expected four months hospital treatment he was back home within weeks.
It took quite a few weeks before Joshua could confidently walk again. A year later his left arm is weaker and he says that his joints hurt but he is improving all the time with regular physiotherapy. As he gets older his speech is becoming easier to understand.
"He has terrible nightmares and he talks about angels a lot now," confided his mum.
"When he first came home he pointed to an indoor light and started screaming. He was hysterical. It was the only light in the house he would do that to and we wonder what made him do that?"
"I'm not an overly religious person, but I remember doing some praying at that time."
"I remember thinking, if this is it, Jesus, then take him and look after him and I didn't question it."
"His survival has just been like a miracle."
Source: Sunday Times 19th August 2001. from the article "Proof miracles really happen," written by Gary Adshead.
Sunday times website: www.news.com.au