Damien, Stephanie and Mark Watson on their family farm recently.
Stephanie Watson at home with brothers Mark (left) and Damien, and their Labrador Keisha, 22 years ago. This picture and a story about Stephanie’s rescue was on the front page of the Shepparton News on November 13, 2000, a week after her near-drowning. Photo: Ray Sizer
Stephanie Watson owes her life to a series of extraordinary actions and coincidences, and 22 years after she almost drowned, her life still has some remarkable connections.
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Stephanie was a 23-month-old toddler when her brothers and their Labrador dog rescued her from a farm channel, lifeless and as limp as a rag doll.
Today, she is a 24-year-old nurse and has worked alongside doctors who recalled her being brought into the Kyabram Hospital two decades ago, after being resuscitated.
Stephanie remembers practically nothing of the day in November 2000, when she ended up in the farm irrigation channel at Yambuna, about 15km north of Tongala.
She still lives on the property with her parents, Rob and Kim, and the brother who gave her the first CPR, before a passer-by stopped to assist and other farm workers helped out.
The chain of events were remarkable:
Her eight-year-old brother Mark had learnt the basics of CPR only that week at Scouts.
The passer-by had only been driving past because they were heading back to a river to retrieve a fishing rod they left behind.
The road ambulance got to the scene before the air ambulance, and another passer-by drove the vehicle to Kyabram because the paramedic was on his own.
Resuscitation instructions from a paramedic were relayed through a cordless phone which ordinarily ran out of signal outside the house.
Stephanie was found with the help of their Labrador who alerted them, and then jumped in to help with the rescue.
A first aid trained neighbour, Leanne Gledhill, accompanied Stephanie in the back of the ambulance to assist the paramedic and reassure Stephanie.
The family is ever mindful of the extraordinary chain of events.
“Some people win Tatts or win a car,” Stephanie’s father Rob said.
“I can top all of that.”
The first words the toddler spoke when she was recovering in the Goulburn Valley Base Hospital in Shepparton, were: “Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!,” when she saw him come in the door.
Stephanie is still close to her brother Mark, who dragged her out of the channel.
Now a father of three children of his own, Mark sometimes chokes back emotion at Stephanie’s milestone celebrations when he is asked about what happened.
Stephanie escaped from the farmhouse through a broken door almost 22 years ago and somehow ended up in the channel at the front of the property.
Stephanie Watson was happy to see her father Rob at the hospital where she was recovering after nearly drowning 22 years ago.
She was face down when Mark and his brother Damien found her. Their Labrador, Keisha, pushed herself under Stephanie’s body and never left her side as successive people resuscitated her. Keisha cried out when they put Stephanie in the ambulance.
Stephanie’s horrified mother Kim remembers only too well that day. Kim recalls Stephanie was limp, blue and struggling to breathe when she arrived on the scene.
“I remember pulling her out and trying my best with CPR,” Mark said.
Their faithful dog Keisha lived until she was 14.
Stephanie graduated with a Bachelor of Nursing in 2019 and began her graduate year in 2020 at the Kyabram Hospital.
She is now planning to start her post graduate degree in midwifery at Echuca Regional Health this month.
She enjoys working with mums and babies and has been privileged to assist with delivering babies.
Kim believes some kind of CPR training should be mandatory for every person from Year 6 level up, even if it is only teaching the basics.
Stephanie doesn’t necessarily connect her near-drowning experience with her career choice, but her family — who have noticed her devotion to helping others — see some kind of destiny in her life path.
Stephanie Watson at the channel that almost claimed her life 22 years ago.
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