Episode
The Boy Who Beat the Odds: Dylan’s Near-Drowning Miracle Story
- Podcast
- On Call, Off Script
- Published
- Dec 23, 2025
- Duration seconds
- 1742
- Processing state
not_requested
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Summary
Episode 8: Eight-year-old Dylan Smith is all energy, jokes, and big dreams today—but his miracle story begins with every parent’s worst nightmare: a near-drowning in the family’s backyard pool. In this special Month of Miracles episode of On Call, Off Script, host Ruelle Champion sits down with Dylan’s mom, Tiffany Smith, pediatric critical care doctor Dr. Asumthia Jeyapalan, and pediatric physical therapist Kyle Zreibe to share how a summer afternoon turned into a life-or-death emergency. Tiffany walks us through the terrifying moments of finding Dylan unresponsive in the water, calling 911, and watching her husband and a neighbor, Lissette Medina, who happens to work as a physician assistant at Holtz Children’s Hospital, perform CPR until fire rescue arrived. Dr. Jeyapalan helps listeners understand what those first moments mean for a child after a near-drowning, why quick action matters so much, and how the team at Holtz Children’s came together to give Dylan the best possible chance when everything was still unknown. Then, Kyle narrates how rehab turned basic movements like sitting, standing, and taking those first steps into major milestones for Dylan and his family. Finally, Dylan joins the conversation himself to talk about snakes, Disney rides, and what it feels like to be a “miracle story” at Jackson. It’s an honest, emotional, and ultimately uplifting reminder that it truly takes a village to save a child, support a family, and help a little boy get back to just being a kid again. Guest Bios: Asumthia Jeyapalan, DO Dr. Asumthia Jeyapalan is an attending doctor in the Holtz Children’s Hospital pediatric intensive care unit (PICU), and an associate professor of pediatric critical care medicine at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. In this episod…