CORONADO, Calif. (KGTV) - A Navy family is counting their blessings after their 4-year-old son nearly drowned during a family vacation in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico — and made a recovery his doctors are calling a miracle.
On Aug. 11, Angelina and Jay Yannuzzi arrived at a vacation rental with their three children and the families of Angelina's sisters — nine adults and six kids in all. Upon arriving, the group headed to the pool.
"They were jumping in, playing with the water guns. Just being kids," Angelina said.
Then, the Yannuzzis' teenage son started yelling — and pulled 4-year-old CJ from the bottom of the pool. CJ had taken off his floatie to use the bathroom, and it had never been put back on.
"His lips were blue, his body was limp. I was holding his head, screaming frantically for someone to call an ambulance," Angelina said.
Jay, a Navy sailor, performed CPR for more than 20 minutes before an ambulance transported CJ to a hospital. CJ had suffered a brain injury, along with sepsis and multi-organ failure.
Several days later, with help from Angelina's employer, CJ was flown to San Diego and admitted to Rady Children's Hospital, where he was placed in a medically induced coma.
A week later, CJ began to turn the corner — but the prognosis for his brain injury remained grim.
"One of the doctors said the MRI made her really sad," Angelina said.
The family leaned on their faith.
"Activated everybody we knew to pray for him. There were people across continents saying CJ's name," Angelina said.
After another week, CJ was removed from his ventilator. About 48 hours later, Angelina was sitting at his bedside.
"I said, ‘CJ, I love you.’ He looked me in the eye, and he said, 'love.' It wasn't just hope and prayers. He was in there," Angelina said.
CJ started talking, then laughing. Complications from his medications led to the partial amputation of two of his fingers. But remarkably, CJ has no brain deficits.
Six weeks after the accident, CJ walked out of the hospital to a rousing sendoff from hospital staff and family.
“He’s a miracle. We’re very much aware he's a gift, and we're very grateful it turned out this way, because it could have been so much worse," Angelina said.
A GoFundMe campaign has been set up to help the family with medical and other expenses.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
