By Macee Swafford
The Sentinel Echo
LONDON, Ky. — Nearly a month after an accident at home nearly claimed the life of their young daughter, Faith and Jonathan Trejo reunited with the people who helped bring Nora Trejo back.
Thursday’s reunion brought together the Trejo family and paramedics, flight nurses and medical personnel who responded after 15-month-old Nora was found unresponsive following a drowning incident at the family’s home in August.
| THE PULSE: Medics split over 911’s high utilizer problem
For Faith, seeing those who cared for her daughter during the frightening ordeal was emotional.
“I am very thankful,” said Mrs. Trejo. “They all were wonderful with us, and took such good care of her and us. I mean, we were obviously in shambles.”
The evening began like many others in the Trejo household.
Faith was doing dishes while Jonathan handled bath time for their children. Jonathan stepped out of the bathroom briefly to get pajamas. When he returned, he found Nora unresponsive.
He called for Faith, who immediately began CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) while emergency services were contacted.
Faith had received CPR training and had performed CPR on a family member years earlier, but nothing prepared her for having to use that training on her own child.
“Nothing prepares you for doing it on your own child,” Mrs. Trejo said. “I basically blacked out. It’s just one of those things you’ve, I guess, a mother’s instinct. I believe it was God, to be honest.”
Emergency crews arrived within minutes, beginning the medical response that would eventually lead Nora to the hospital and, ultimately, back home.
The road to that point, however, was filled with uncertainty.
At the hospital, doctors found swelling in Nora’s brain. An MRI performed the following day came back clear, giving her family a sense of hope, but doctors cautioned that the results did not necessarily mean she was out of danger. Faith said a neurologist explained that neurological damage could sometimes take several days to become apparent.
That night became the most difficult point of the ordeal.
Nora’s vital signs fluctuated, her oxygen saturation dropped and she stopped using the bathroom, leaving her family fearing the worst. Then, around 6 a.m. , everything began to change.
“She’d use the bathroom, and then from that point on, she just done a 360,” Mrs. Trejo said. “She completely — everything lined out.”
By noon, Nora was taken off the ventilator — days earlier than doctors had anticipated.
The little girl who had entered the hospital in critical condition was suddenly on a path toward recovery.
When the Trejos returned home with Nora, the family was not the only one celebrating. The medical personnel who had responded to that August call rarely get the opportunity to see what happens after the ambulance leaves or the helicopter takes off.
Chris Vandy, a paramedic and captain with Ambulance Inc. of Laurel County, said those success stories are not something emergency responders often get to witness firsthand.
“We very rarely get to see these success stories,” Vandy said. “All too often, they turn out the other way, and all too often, we don’t get to follow up with the family.”
For Vandy, being reunited with Nora was more than simply a follow-up visit.
“This is a really special moment, a special day to get to come out here and visit — and it helps our healing process too,” he said. “We carry a lot in this business, and it’s a really good reminder that our training and teamwork was all pulled together.”
Among those who returned to see Nora were members of Air Evac Lifeteam 179, including flight nurse Alex Collins and flight paramedic Kayla Duncan.
Collins said pediatric calls carry an added emotional weight, particularly because she and fellow flight paramedic Duncan are both mothers.
“Especially with pediatric calls, Kayla and I are both mothers, so getting these calls, we really take a moment to get our head into the game,” Collins said.
The crew prepares themselves mentally for what they may encounter, knowing that every call can bring a different challenge.
Collins said a case like Nora’s is something the crew may only encounter once every several years — making the opportunity to see her healthy and walking around especially meaningful.
“The best thing ever, to get to see her today, it makes our job absolutely worth it,” Collins said.
For the Trejo family, the reunion offered an opportunity to thank the people who played a role in Nora’s survival and recovery.
Trejo said Nora’s doctors and medical team were amazed by her progress, with members of the neurology team telling the family that the child they were seeing was seemingly a completely different patient from the one they had first encountered.
During one of Nora’s check-ups, Trejo was wearing a shirt bearing the name “El Roi,” a name for God meaning “the God who sees me.”
A doctor noticed it and told Trejo, “Somebody was watching you.”
“He said, ‘Somebody was there,” Trejo recalled.
Mrs. Trejo said she believes God worked through the medical professionals who cared for Nora.
“I really do believe that, so I’m just thankful,” she said. “But also, He works through all these people here today, too.”
Now, Nora is back home with her parents and her two brothers, Owen and Noah. The boys were especially excited when their little sister returned home, although Mrs. Trejo acknowledged the experience has affected the entire family.
“They’ve definitely had some PTSD. We all have,” she said. “We’re just taking all the necessary steps to get through that.”
Mrs. Trejo hopes other parents can learn something from what happened to her family. She said parents should remain vigilant around water, even when they believe they are taking every precaution.
“All summer, I was so cautious about the pool, and the beach — we went to the beach this summer, and all the things — and [it] ended up happening right in our house,” Mrs. Trejo said.
Her biggest advice is prevention, including CPR training and swimming lessons for children when possible.
For the Trejos, one terrible moment has become a story of survival — and a reminder of the importance of preparation, quick action and the people who answer when a family makes an emergency call.
And for the emergency responders who came together to help Nora, seeing her standing, walking and smiling was a rare chance to see the other side of their work.
© 2026 The Sentinel Echo (London, Ky.).
Visit www.sentinel-echo.com.
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.