Vigil To Be Held For Boy, 2, On Life-Support After Near-Drowning
CANONSBURG (KDKA/AP) – A vigil is being held tonight for a 2-year-old child that nearly drowned in Washington County.
Last Thursday, Dean Gillum, 2, fell into the above ground pool at his family's home on Linda Court.
The boy was flown to Children's Hospital, where he remains on life-support.
A vigil is being held near the family's home at 8:30 p.m. The Gillum family had only moved to Canonsburg two weeks ago, but the neighbors they barely knew and friends from all over the area are coming together for the gathering.
More than 200 people have said they will attend, and many more have said on social media that they are sending prayers.
"All we can do is pray, and that's the only comfort and hope that I can provide for the family," said Jennifer Yoon, the co-organizer of the vigil. "So if we are going to do it, invite everybody and go big and see what can happen."
Yoon, the director of the preschool where Dean was enrolled and a youth minister, helped put the prayer vigil together for the Gillums.
"They contacted me on Saturday, and I said, 'What can I do? Can I pray for you, and can I pray with you?' And she said, 'Please come and pray with me.' So I did. I went to the hospital and visited with them," said Yoon.
Dean's mother tells police he was playing with a toy lawn mower when she went into the house to get him some juice. She returned to find him floating face-down and pulled him out of the water.
Police say the family typically takes down a ladder used to access the above-ground pool after they finish swimming, but hadn't done that in this instance.
On Monday, Gillum wrote on his Facebook page: "They declared my son dead today [Sunday] around 1 p.m. Even though we've had several doctors tell us he is dead and there is nothing we can do, despite their pressure to do so, we have decided to leave him on life-support. There are too many stories of miracles to quit now."
"They are very much holding hope for a miracle, not doubting that at all," said Yoon.
The boy's mother said he had been taking swimming lessons since he was 6-months-old.
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