‘She’s a miracle’
Cape Breton couple’s toddler survives fall from second storey window in Calgary
The kids were playing in the upstairs rec room while the adults were getting Thanksgiving dinner ready Sunday, when one of a parent’s worst nightmares happened.
Three-year old Brielle Marsman, in front of her eight-yearold sister and her cousins, fell out a second-storey window in her uncle’s home in Calgary.
First landing on a van, Brielle then bounced off and landed on her head in the concrete driveway.
“Her cousin came down screaming that Brielle fell out the window,” said Krista MacNeil, who has been Brielle’s mother Kelly’s best friend for 25 years.
Kelly is from Sydney and her husband, Allister, is from Whitney Pier. The couple, who have two daughters, have been together for 19 years and have lived in Alberta for 12 years. Most of their family lives in Cape Breton.
Brielle was conscious, crying on the ground after the fall but couldn’t be touched because it was a head injury.
“Kelly was frantic. She was running up the street. She didn’t know what to do with herself. There was blood everywhere,” said MacNeil, speaking on behalf of the family.
The parents think Brielle was sitting on the back of a sofa in the rec room and lost her balance, falling out the open window behind it.
At the hospital, Kelly called MacNeil, who is a nurse, panicked and full of questions.
“Brielle had 10 doctors around her. She was immediately put on life support,” MacNeil said.
Brielle was intubated and was also put on a ventilator because she had stopped breathing upon arrival. She was taken off the ventilator and intubation after 12 hours.
Since MacNeil is speaking for the family, she has been posting updates on Facebook.
MacNeil called Kelly and Allister “very attentive parents.”
“They don’t take their eyes off their kids. But they were inside a house. You definitely don’t think your kid is going to fall out a window,” she said.
Kelly and Allister are staying by their daughter’s side 24 hours a day since the accident.
On Tuesday, Brielle sat up for the first time and has stopped vomiting. She is talking and doctors are amazed at her progress, even though she is still unable to go to the bathroom or eat on her own. Brielle is also in immense pain.
Doctors still don’t have a full prognosis and there is a long way to go. Brielle’s brain could still swell and it’s unknown if there is permanent brain damage. The multiple skull fractures might not heal. If that happens, Brielle may need surgery.
There is also a lot of aftercare and physiotherapy needed for head trauma like Brielle’s and her parents intend to get counselling for both their daughters.
“Brielle remembers falling out the window. She told her mother ‘mommy, I fell out the window and nobody caught me,’” MacNeil said.
MacNeil’s daughter is a childhood cancer survivor and she understands what it’s like to have to live at a hospital. That’s why she started a You Caring fundraising campaign. The goal is to raise $5,000 for the family.
“The doctors said she’s a miracle,” said MacNeil.
“Kelly’s dad passed away a couple of years ago, and I don’t know… but somebody, somewhere was definitely looking out for that little girl.”
Donations to the family can be made at https://www.youcaring.com/kellymarsman-976077.