A 17-month-old girl has died nearly two weeks after she and her identical twin sister sneaked out of their home and wound up in the backyard pool. Maya and Makayla were playing in the living room of their Moreno Valley, California home the afternoon of April 29 when their parents, Jeremiah Edwards and Erika Alvarado, nodded off to sleep. While their parents were napping, the twins pushed a window screen down and escaped the home, wandering into the backyard.
When the couple woke up 15 minutes later, they found the girls gone, even though all the doors in the house were locked. Eventually, Alvardo went to the backyard to look for the girls and found Maya unconscious in the pool. She immediately 'jumped in' and 'grabbed her' daughter, while her husband found Makayla in the shallow end of the pool. The two began CPR on the girls, even though neither had a pulse. At the time, Riverside County Sheriff's Corporal Rafael Victoria was patrolling the area and heard the parents' screams for help. He ran to their aid, called for backup and helped continue CPR until paramedics could arrive on the scene. The couple had an older daughter.
The twins were eventually transferred to Loma Linda University Children's Hospital, where they were medically sedated. Doctors told the parents that they had sustained extensive brain damage. Unfortunately, Maya succumbed to her injuries on May 12, the same day that her twin emerged from a coma. Maya's heart was donated to a four-month-old who needed a transplant, and her father looks forward to meeting that child one day. Alvarado and Edwards are finding it hard to grieve because they are still staying strong for their other daughter, who remains in critical condition.
The family's pool was unfenced, which they never thought was necessary since they didn't think their kids could get out to the pool if the doors were closed. They hope their tragedy can serve as a lesson for others. 'We just never thought that they would escape through there. Every accident could be prevented, we just pray that families can take from this and implement whatever they can,' Alvarado said. According to social media, the couple appears to have another older daughter. A GoFundMe has been started to help the family with medical bills. As of Tuesday morning, the fund had raised more than $32,000 of its $50,000 goal.