Toddler trapped in the ice now an adult serving in the U.S. Navy

Remember the Christmas miracle of Stevie Edmonds? It happened 20 years ago on Dec. 21, 1987, when the 19-month-old toddler was trapped under the icy waters of the Upper Allerman Canal along Toler Lane in Gardnerville. Little Stevie was submerged, upside-down, in his mother's Ford Bronco for about 24 minutes. That was 24 minutes without oxygen.

That was in 1987 and now on Dec. 21, 2007, we celebrate the 20th anniversary of Stevie's miracle.

It was early in the morning and Christmas was just four days away when the terrible accident occurred. The air was bitterly cold and the freezing drizzle had turned the asphalt into a slippery sheet of black ice.

Deborah Edmonds, 19, and her young son skidded off the icy road, down an embankment and overturned into an ice-covered irrigation canal. The force of the impact broke through about 3 inches of ice and the roof of the car immediately settled into the muddy river bottom. The water was 5 feet deep, so only the tips of the four wheels showed through the hole in the ice. The Bronco landed upside down and it was covered with water.

Deborah was injured and she tried desperately to find her son, but she was unsuccessful in the dark, murky water. All around her floated pieces of ice and glass. Somehow she managed to crawl through a broken window and escape from the submerged car. Emergency responders arrived quickly and four of them performed a rescue in the icy water. Little Stevie was unconscious, white, stiff, pulseless and not breathing. But that water was very cold - cold enough to trigger the phenomenon known as the mammalian diving reflex. This occurs when extremely cold water slows down normal body functions. The trachea closes, preventing water from entering the lungs. The heart rate decreases sharply and diverts the oxygenated blood from less vital organs, like the kidneys and muscles, directly to the brain.

This dramatic rescue and resuscitation by Bobby Wartgow, Don Stangle, Steve Morgan and Greg Curtis received worldwide media attention and was featured on the "CBS Nightly News" and "Good Morning, America." This was because there was something very special about this cold water drowning case. Even though Stevie was without a pulse and not breathing for about 24 minutes, he survived it without any evidence of neurological damage.

The whole rescue was incredible. It was a total team effort and everything just clicked together perfectly to produce this miracle.

It's been 20 years now since this terrible accident happened and people would like to know how Stephen is doing today, especially his many friends in Fish Springs. His life sounds wonderful. There is no evidence of neurological damage whatsoever. It's a miracle all right. There was a lot of love around him - his mom and dad, Deborah and Karl Deitch, and grandparents Ann and Gary Edmonds, aka Nana and Papa, and many other important people in his life. Stephen graduated from Douglas High School in 2004 when he was 18 and then he joined the Navy. He's been in the Navy for three years now and he proudly wears a patch with a parachute with wings on it signifying him as a parachute rigger.

Stephen is presently at the Lemoore Naval Air Station but he'll be stationed on the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz in January. Then he will go on his third deployment to the Persian Gulf. There's a very happy ending to this story as the ship is scheduled to return next May, and shortly after that he and his fiancee, Tiffany Strickler, will be married. God bless the miracle boy and his princess too.

n Linda Monohan may be reached at 782-5802.