Family face agonising decision over three-year-old who almost drowned
Kawa Sweeney's devastated parents face an agonising decision as tests revealed the three-year-old from Sydney has suffered significant brain damage after a near-drowning in Bali.
The little girl was found unconscious at the bottom of a Bali pool.
Now her family is facing the terrible decision on whether or not to turn off her life support.
Tests at Princess Margaret Hospital have shown little Kawa is essentially brain-dead - the verdict no parent wants to hear.
"They ran those tests and Kawa was unresponsive," family friend Pearl Tan said.
"There's a lot of disbelief, I guess, that his has happened."
The nightmare began at the Uluwatu Surf Villas in Bali, an island where pool fences are not compulsory.
"Kawa's mum has told me she was sitting on the step of the pool with her just moments before the little girl slipped under water.
She said there was no splash and no scream, nothing to suggest anything was wrong.
A Cottesloe doctor helped revive Kawa, but there were lengthy delays in getting the little girl treatment.
It took 45 minutes for an ambulance to arrive but the vehicle was not equipped with oxygen and a Medical Air spokesperson said the ambulance staff did not have the skills to treat a child who had drowned.
The first hospital Kawa was taken to did not have sufficient equipment to treat the child.
By the time she arrived at a second hospital, Kawa had been without oxygen for an hour and 15 minutes.
Kawa was flown to Perth on an emerging Medical Air flight but it was delayed almost 24 hours because of a runway closure at Bali airport.
A bedside vigil continued at Princess Margaret Hospital on Wednesday night, with friends and family flying in from around the country.
Kawa's father posted this photo on Instagram of little Kawa at her favourite beach, thanking everyone for their thoughts and well wishes.
Now he and Kawa's mother must face the devastating decision about when to say goodbye to their little girl.
