Nine-year-old Calgary boy in medically induced coma after near-drowning in B.C. river

Nine-year-old Paul-Angelo Warren remains in a medically induced coma after nearly drowning in the Shuswap River during an Aug. 3 family vacation in Enderby, B.C.

Warren was swimming at W.J. Tuey Regional Park when he was pulled underwater by the current and pinned against fallen deadwood. He was submerged for roughly five to 10 minutes before beachgoers pulled him from the water. His father, Matthew Warren, said his cousin was pulling Paul-Angelo out and beginning CPR when several healthcare professionals who happened to be at the beach stepped in to help.

"That's when the best miracle in the world happened to us—there was doctors and nurses already there," Warren said. One nurse performed chest compressions while another gave mouth-to-mouth CPR until paramedics arrived.

Paul-Angelo was transported to hospital in critical condition, but has shown encouraging signs since. All his organs are functioning well, and doctors conducted a brain-function test that came back positive. He continues to have fluid in his lungs and requires two chest tubes to help him breathe and drain the fluid. He has intermittently woken from the medically induced coma, particularly when medical staff suction his lungs or when he hears his father's voice.

"He's a fighter," Warren said. "So he keeps fighting that coma and keeps waking up."

For Warren, one of the most difficult parts of the ordeal has been knowing that some people at the beach filmed the incident rather than helping. "The hardest thing in the world to see is go on TikTok and see your own son drowning," he said. The family is uncertain about Paul-Angelo's discharge prognosis at this time.