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"Boy clings to life after 'dream trip' accident"
It was supposed to be a "dream-come-true" trip to meet beloved cartoon character SpongeBob SquarePants.
Instead, a 6-year-old Muskegon Heights boy is on life support and battling for his life at a Florida hospital this week. Aamon Sanders was rushed to Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children after he was pulled from a swimming pool Tuesday in Orlando. Aamon, his mother, Wanda, and his brother, Aaron, were vacationing at Nickelodeon Hotel, a family resort in Orlando. The youth was playing in the shallow end of the hotel pool when he wandered unnoticed into the deeper section, Wanda Sanders told The Chronicle this morning in a phone interview. He had apparently taken in a lot of water, despite the fact he was wearing inflatable "floaties" on each arm, his mother said. He was unconscious when he was pulled from the pool and remains on life support this morning, she said. Aamon regained consciousness at 3 a.m. today. "I told him that I loved him," Wanda Sanders said this morning. "He tried to say he loved me, too. I'm just glad he's still with us." Although the boy's condition appears to have stabilized, Aamon is still breathing with the aid of a ventilator, his mother said. The accident occurred only hours after the family had arrived at the giant Nickelodeon theme resort, which includes a pool with seven water slides, a four-story water tower and a 400-gallon dump tank that releases "slime." The Sanders' trip was organized by a church youth group at St. Francis DeSales Church. The group, which calls itself "Pitching In and Reaching Out," consists of about 20 youths. The group had spent the past six months raising money to send the Sanders family to the Nickelodeon resort, said Paula Cooley, a group member. Aamon Sanders has a condition called orbital lymphangioma -- a rare and benign vascular tumor that affects his eyesight and breathing. The boy has undergone four operations, but the tumor has returned each time and his physical health has continued to deteriorate, according to his mother and Aamon's doctors. Earlier this year, Cooley and other members of the youth group discovered that Aamon's greatest wish was to meet SpongeBob SquarePants, whose underwater antics on TV and a movie have made him a childhood favorite, Cooley said. The teens collected pop cans, pitched in their own money, solicited community donations and organized a spaghetti dinner fundraiser to send Aamon to Florida. Their efforts raised more than $3,000, said Cooley, a 2007 Mona Shores graduate. SpongeBob SquarePants is the main attraction at the resort, which features such activities as breakfast with the cartoon character. Word of Aamon's accident hit hard in Michigan. After hearing about it late Tuesday night, youths from the church group gathered at 1 a.m. Wednesday at Cooley's home to console each other and pray for Aamon's recovery, Cooley said. Wanda Sanders said she hopes the accident doesn't detract from the "wonderful generosity" of the teens who made the trip possible. Some group members have expressed guilt for what happened, she said. "Accidents happen," Sanders said. "Aamon was wearing the 'floaties' that they bought for him. They saved his life."Please pray for my brother and my family........we are struggling trying to deal with the situation so please keep us in your prayers! Thanks a million THe Sanders Family(Keenan)!
