Associated Press
WARSAW, Poland — Doctors in southern Poland are working to save a 2-year-old boy who was found unconscious after spending a frigid night outdoors, wearing only socks and a pajama top.
Janusz Skalski, a doctor at the children’s hospital in Krakow, said Tuesday that the boy’s body temperature was 12 degrees Celsius (54 F) and his heart was beating once every few dozen seconds when he was brought in on Sunday.
Skalski said the child’s temperature has been raised to 36 degrees Celsius (97F) — nearly normal — and a regular heartbeat has been restored, but the child’s condition remains to be seen. He is still attached to a respirator, but his kidneys, liver, intestines and lungs are working properly.
Doctors are to begin Tuesday to slowly bring him out of medically induced coma.
“It would be an absolute miracle if the child could be saved with no negative side effects,” Skalski said.
A policeman found the boy Sunday morning lying face down by a creek in the village of Raclawice, near Krakow. The temperature had fallen to minus 7 Celsius (19 Fahrenheit) overnight.
He was spending Saturday night under his grandmother’s care. The woman said she did not see him leave.