March 16, 2009 - The day baby Fergus fell into the bucket of water!

It was an accident - a parent's worst nightmare.

The kind of thing we all fear will happen to our own kids. But for Matt and Esther it actually happened.

On March 16, 2009: their youngest child, Fergus who is about to turn one-year-old, almost drowned when he fell head first into a 5-gallon bucket that had some water in it. Esther and Matt did CPR on Fergus immediately, taking turns. Esther's sister, Rebecca, called 911. First responders arrived shortly after and continued CPR, not knowing that it had already been done. Finally the ambulance arrived and further attempts were made to revive Fergus. Fergus was lifted by helicopter while EMTs urgently applied CPR to his lifeless body and as they did all they could do to help him live.

Matt and Esther had not seen Fergus take a breath since they had rescued him from the bucket.

Now, in the car on the way to the hospital they dared to hope that he was still alive, but were struck with shock, fear and dread as reality threatened to show otherwise. They knew that too many minutes had passed without oxygen.It had been less than 3 years since their hearts had been utterly broken when they lost a 3 month old little daughter to SIDS. Was baby Fergus going to die too?

He was revived by this air-evac rescue crew. When they arrived at the local hospital Matt and Esther were told he needed to be moved to another hospital in Springfield, Missouri to stabilize him - more than a 2 hour drive from their home.

In Springfield, Fergus was again put on life support, but tests soon confirmed what everyone had dreaded to hear: there was little brain activity. Even though he was not breathing on his own, there was reason to dare hold on to hope: Fergus' heart was still beating. His life story was not over yet!