Ayda’s mum arrived to find police responding to her daughter’s possible abductionThis article contains affiliate links, we will receive a commission on any sales we generate from it. Learn more
Ayda Kenny who fell into a lake in Thatto Heath St Helens in April 2024
A little girl who slipped away from her nan and was later found floating in a lake barely survived thanks to ‘a miracle’. Ayda Kenny, three, is autistic and non-verbal. In April 2024 she went left the house and fell into a lake in Thatto Heath, St Helens where she was found ‘unresponsive’ by Merseyside Police officers.
Police started CPR and North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) and specialist crews from the North West Air Ambulance Charity (NWAA) arrived shortly after. Ayda was resuscitated, placed in an induced coma, and accompanied by NWAA’s critical care team to Alder Hey Children’s Hospital.
Ayda’s mum Alex Price recalled: “I got a call from my neighbour, and she said, ‘Alex, Ayda’s in trouble.’ My heart just dropped. When I got home, the police were stopping cars, checking the boots of people’s cars, thinking she’d been abducted.
“Then I found out she’d been pulled from the lake. She was face down, submerged. Her nappy had expanded and kept her afloat. I just kept praying, ‘Please let her survive this by some miracle.’
“I was screaming, ‘Please let me get to my little girl.’ I just needed to hold her. But they kept saying, ‘You need to let them work on her.’ I knew it was bad. If there was hope, they’d have given me something to hold onto.”
Ayda was treated at the scene by the NWAA crew as her condition was critical and she’d suffered a cardiac arrest.
Mum Alex Price and daughter Ayda Kenny. Ayda ‘died’ after falling into a pond and had to be resuscitated by first responders
Rob Evans, a critical care paramedic who treated Ayda at the scene said: “We were faced with a child who had drowned, been resuscitated from cardiac arrest, and now had a pulse but was being ventilated. Clinically, we had to stabilise Ayda as best we could. Preparing for a safe pre-hospital anaesthetic was critical. Given how ill she was at the time, just surviving was remarkable.”
When Ayda was stable, she was taken to Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool, where Alex was told her daughter had likely suffered up to 20 minutes of hypoxia to the brain.
The mum said: “She had weeds in her hair, mud all over her, and smelled like pond water. I was just cleaning her eyes with saline and gauze. It felt like the only thing I could do.”
Ayda Kenny who fell into a lake in Thatto Heath St Helens in April 2024
After 48 hours of sedation, Ayda woke up, pulling out tubes and showing no signs of brain damage. Alex continued: “She had died. She was dead when they pulled her out of the water, but they brought her back. And now, by some miracle, she’s exactly the same little girl. She came out unscathed.”
Ayda’s story is a powerful reminder of the lifesaving difference made by the North West Air Ambulance Charity. Now, Ayda’s mum, Alex, is preparing to skydive on Saturday, September 20, to raise vital funds for NWAA, the team she credits with saving her daughter’s life.
Alex said: “I’m just so grateful. It’s an absolute miracle; it’s like winning the lottery. I can’t thank everyone enough.”
To show support for the charity, follow this link to Alex’s fundraising page: https://bit.ly/4pvg0Kn