SEATTLE — Twelve-year-old Esther Ko left her room at Seattle Children's Hospital on Tuesday to hugs and well wishes from the hospital staff as she headed home.
Over six weeks in two hospitals, Esther made a remarkable recovery after nearly drowning in a SeaTac lake.
"I remember I was in a church picnic and I wanted to go swimming and I fell," Esther said.
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On June 29, Esther was at Angle Lake with a church group, led by her father, pastor Paul Ko.
He had baptized her in the lake that day.
Then she went swimming with friends.
"I think I got drowned or something like that and then this guy like saved me," Esther said.
Jason Queirilo spotted Esther and came to her rescue.
"I could see hair so I just kicked off my shoes and ran out there and she was floating face down," Queirilo told KIRO 7 at the scene.
No one knows how long Esther had been underwater.
Esther's mom said an MRI found damage all over her brain.
She's had vision and memory problems, and this star student has had to relearn the alphabet.
But she has. And so quickly.
"When I first came here the doctors told me I was a miracle or something like that," Esther said.
Her family also calls it a miracle.
Her mom told KIRO 7, "God is working for her."
Esther is grateful she'll soon see her friends, and eat the Korean food cooked by her grandmother.
"I'm really excited to go home," Esther said.
Esther's family is meeting with school officials to get her extra help as she starts seventh grade.
Her family is also concerned about paying future medical expenses.
Cox Media Group
