Rio Rancho mom talks about her son's trampoline death

RIO RANCHO, N.M. (KRQE) - It’s something every parent fears – turning away from your kids for a minute and something goes terribly wrong.

That’s what happened to one Rio Rancho family three weeks ago. 

“No matter how hard I'd like to deny it and feel like he's going to come running in he's not,” said Juliet Hreha.

It was just three weeks ago when 2-year-old Dylan and his brother were playing on the backyard trampoline the family had for years.

“We were going in and out of the house. I was baking in the kitchen. We were just all hanging out having a nice Saturday afternoon,” she said.

Then Dylan fell off the trampoline.

His brother ran in the house to tell them what happened.

“When we tried to ask him what happened, he said he fell down and moved for a minute and he fell asleep,” Hreha said.

They called 911 and started CPR - Dylan was taken by helicopter to Presbyterian Hospital. That’s when Hreha called out for help on Facebook.

“I posted, 'My son is dying, we need prayers. The paramedics are breathing for him,’” she said.

Dylan and his parents spent the next six days at the hospital.

The Facebook post turned into a Facebook page – and word of Dylan’s situation spread quickly.

“There were people in Canada sending us messages, New Zealand, Australia, everywhere,” she said.

A platoon in Afghanistan even sent a photo of the soldiers holding up signs saying “Get Well, Dylan.”

She says the support carried her through the days they spent with Dylan in the hospital.

“They carried the burden like I did and people were so desperate to feel a miracle,” she said.

Though the overwhelming majority of posts were supportive, a small number of people used the page to question if the family was real – and taunt them.

“Some of them were saying, ‘I hope you can't sleep at night’” Hreha says. “Because, the true definition of an accident is, of course, any accident is preventable in some way.”

(Both CYFD and the coroner ruled Dylan’s death an accident.)

Six days into their stay, an MRI showed what they feared most.

“When they called us in, they said that, they were sorry but his whole brain was damaged,” she said. “So we lost it. We all lost it and cried out.”

Hreha says now, life has changed for the family in ways they haven’t quite grasped.

Flowers are strewn in the backyard where the trampoline once was. 

The Facebook community, first created to pray for Dylan, has taken on new meaning.

“Going through this, I realized there are so many people willing to love a complete stranger just because they need it and just because they ask for it,” she said.