How a chain of coincidences helped save the life of Annagry toddler

On a cold and damp November evening last year, Annagry was left shocked when a near tragedy rocked the tight-knit village.

The nightmare was averted thanks to the heroic efforts of Ihor Burkun and Sinéad Boyle, who were on Tuesday recognised at a national award ceremony by Water Safety Ireland for their bravery.

Both had saved little Jonnie Robinson from drowning just meters away from his home. Jonnie was just shy of two-years-old

“They are angels and no thank you seems enough for what they have done for us,” said Jonnie’s mother Diane Robinson, who was filled with huge emotion and deep appreciation.

Diane spoke to the Donegal News after the ceremony in Dublin about the day that changed their lives forever.

Jonnie, who is the youngest of four, was with his brothers at their grandparent’s house. Their home is perched overlooking the strand in Annagry.

Because of where the house sits, when the tide comes in, the water meets the bottom of the garden.

“Each person thought he was with the other,” Diane explained.

But the curious toddler had managed to unlock the back door and dander around to the front of the house, toward a van parked outside.

Ihor, a native of Ukraine, had only recently moved to the area. He was standing in the nearby car park just below the house, waiting on the school bus.

“Usually, Ihor would have been long gone, but the door of the school bus broke on the way home and the driver had to get off to fix it, so it was about twenty minutes delayed.

“This was one of a whole chain of coincidences on that day,” Diane explained.

Ihor had stepped out of his car to stretch his legs and looked up toward their house when he noticed the wee toddler walking around alone. He glanced up again, but Jonnie was gone.

Ihor grew concerned, knowing the child couldn’t have made it back to the house that quickly.

He walked over to check but still couldn’t see him. Something wasn’t adding up. That’s when he found Jonnie.

“Jonnie at that stage was floating, and he was gone.”

He was floating amidst the murky water and long reeds, “he was wearing an army green tracksuit so never would have been spotted by a passer-by.”

Without hesitation, Ihor jumped in.

Because it was a wet day and the tide was in, the water was higher than usual. Ihor had jumped off an edge to get in and these factors, coupled with the fact that he was dressed in a heavy tracksuit, meant he initially struggled to get out of the freezing water with the toddler in his arms.

At this stage, Jonnie was no longer breathing and had turned blue.

By chance, Ihor had seen a video just days earlier on TikTok showing an infant resuscitation technique, similar to the Heimlich manoeuvre.

“Even the doctors in the hospital had never seen this manoeuvre that had brought him back around.”

He successfully revived Jonnie, who began to be sick.

That’s when the adrenaline wore off and panic set in. Ihor climbed the fence and tried to hail traffic on the rural road.

“That’s when another angel appeared. She happened to be travelling home on a road she never usually takes,” said Diane.

Local woman Sinéad Boyle was driving home with her children when she spotted Ihor frantically waving, and saw young Jonnie lying on the footpath.

Ihor was in a panic. He had limited English, and he was also exhausted and freezing from his soaked clothes.

“He pointed to the water and then he pointed to the baby, so she put two and two together,” Diane said.

Sinéad could see he was in a bad way, but Jonnie had started to cry, so she knew he was alive.

“By the grace of God she is medically trained.”

Sinéad without hesitating stripped Jonnie of his wet clothes and wrapped him in her jumper.

At that moment, a third angel appeared, Diane explained.

This was Denis Bonner, a bus driver who stopped when he saw the commotion and called 999.

Sinéad held the young boy in her arms on the bus, with the heat blasting, as they waited for emergency services.

“At this stage, nobody knew who this child was,” Diane explained.

Sinéad’s own family had suffered unimaginable heartache in 2020 when her young niece Aimee lost her life to an asthma attack at just 14 years old.

Following the incident, she told Diane that while she was holding Jonnie, she just didn’t want any other family to go through what they had gone through.

“She really is our hero,” Diane added.

“This was all unfolding at the bottom garden of my mum’s house, while mum was inside shouting and looking through the bedrooms for Jonnie.”

At the same time, Jonnie’s eldest brother was looking out the sitting room window and noticed something happening. People were gathering at the end of their road.

His grandfather and uncle both stood up.

“They all thought somebody was knocked down because the bus was stopped in such a haphazard way in the middle of the road.”

“My brother ran down to see could he help, and when he got as far as the door of the bus he saw that it was Jonnie.”

Those gathered were shouting for someone to get the doctor who lived in one of the houses nearby. Jonnie’s eldest brother ran to get the doctor, still not realising what was unfolding.

“He just saw this blonde head of curls on the bus and the bus in the middle of the road and he didn’t put two and two together. He ran to the doctor’s house next door and said, ‘A wee girl had been knocked down, could someone come and help?’”

The doctor wasn’t there at the time, but thankfully the ambulance crew arrived in just seven minutes.

A neighbour watching on heard about the “young girl” who had been knocked down and rang Diane, who was still at work.

But because she has four boys, she didn’t panic. At least, not until she hung up the phone and a feeling of fear washed over her.

“I rang my house, my mum, my dad, my brother—and no one answered. So I just knew.”

Diane and her husband Paddy were both returning from work when they got the call. Both were over half an hour from home.

They made their way to Letterkenny University Hospital, where they were met by Enda and James, the two exceptional paramedics who responded to the incident, and the skilled team waiting in the emergency room.

By the time Jonnie arrived at the hospital, the colour in his skin had returned and he was breathing better.

Almost a year since the incident, the family have just finished building a new house right beside Diane’s parents, which looks down on the spot where the incident occurred.

Now, every time they look down at the bay, it’s not just water they see – it’s the place where they almost lost everything.

But it is also a place where the actions of people who happened to be in the right place at the right time, gave them everything back.

A number of people from Donegal were honoured for preventing water tragedies at the ceremony that took place at University College Dublin on Tuesday.

Among them were the three young men, Maitiú Clerkin, Turlagh McDaid and Dualta Bracken, who heroically saved the life of Donegal County Councillor Brian Carr.

The Glenties councillor was rescued from the water at Tramore beach near Ardara on August 15, after a family beach day took a drastic and frightening turn.