Police chief says 2-year-old’s death accidental
Paul and Laura Gillum with Dean at his baptism in St. Patrick Church in Canonsburg.
Dean Gillum
Dean Gillum, a 2-year-old Canonsburg boy who suffered severe brain damage after falling into his family’s backyard pool Thursday afternoon, died Sunday, according to Canonsburg police Chief Alex Coghill.
Coghill said the boy’s death was ruled accidental. He did not have additional information.
The boy was found Thursday afternoon facedown in his family’s backyard swimming pool.
Laura Gillum, Dean’s mother, told the Observer-Reporter her son was playing with a bubble lawn mower in their backyard Thursday when she went inside to get him juice. When she came back outside, she couldn’t find him.
Laura said she looked in the pool and found the baby floating facedown. She pulled him out of the water, called 911 and performed CPR until emergency personnel arrived. Normally, Laura said, the Gillums take the pool ladder down and place it by the fence when the family is done swimming, but it was still up that day.
Dean was taken by ambulance to Allegheny Health System’s Canonsburg Hospital and then flown by emergency helicopter to Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC, where he was placed in the pediatric intensive care unit.
The family recently moved into the home on Linda Court. Laura said Dean had been taking swim lessons at Cameron Wellness Center in South Strabane Township since he was six months old and loved being in the water.
Dean’s father announced early Sunday afternoon that doctors had declared his son dead on his personal Facebook page.
“They just declared my baby dead,” Paul Gillum wrote about 1 p.m. Sunday.
A short time later, Laura posted on her Facebook page that they had chosen not to remove their son, whom they call “Burrito” from life support.
“Friends. We told the doctors that we are NOT taking Dean off of life support. He is still here with us. Today is NOT his day to die,” she wrote.
A GoFundMe account was set up to help the family. To donate, visit www.gofundme.com/burrito.