The Museum of Human History by Rebekah Bergman

Author:Rebekah Bergman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Tin House Books
Published: 2023-06-10T00:00:00+00:00

-10-

Three days into Maeve’s sleep

Father to Care for Girl, 8, in Mysterious Coma After Near Drowning

MARKS ISLAND BULLETIN | METRO

Eight-year-old Maeve Wilhelm has returned home though she remains in a strange comatose state. Doctors say there is no chance of recovery. They cannot explain how she is still breathing unassisted. She shows no other signs of brain function.

“I would say that yes, it’s impossible for Maeve to recover. There is zero chance,” said one official familiar with the team who treated Maeve at Seven Oaks Hospital. “She is still breathing, as reported. We cannot explain that.”

Tragedy struck young Maeve last Sunday at the swimming pool for residents of the Jacob’s Circle community. Maeve was with her family and a group of neighborhood children. Nobody saw Maeve sink to the bottom of the deep end. Once her absence was noted, around 3:30 p.m., the lifeguard on duty acted swiftly and pulled Maeve to the surface. By then, her stomach was distended and her face had turned blue.

According to an anonymous neighbor, Maeve’s sister was inconsolable. “She was screaming that the bloom had killed her sister. She was talking about the algae bloom at our community beach. She might have thought that if not for that algae, they would’ve been at the beach instead of the pool. I don’t know. It’s a kid’s logic.”

This is not the first tragedy to befall the family in recent years. Dr. Naomi Wilhelm, Maeve’s mother, died last summer in an apparent suicide by drowning at Rocky Beach Harbor.

Asked for a statement about the accident, Lionel Wilhelm, Maeve’s father, declined to comment.

Maeve’s body will need around-the-clock care. A special hospital bed was brought to the Wilhelms’ residence yesterday. A neighbor who came out to watch the delivery said she was surprised that Mr. Wilhelm had opted to care for Maeve by himself.

“There are several high-quality care facilities much better equipped for her,” the neighbor said. “I told him this. I wanted to make sure he understood his other options. I said, ‘So where will you put her?’ He misunderstood. He looked at me and said, ‘Here. Right here in my arms.’”

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