Coma girl’s dad: I blame myself

The dad of tragic holiday pool girl Cally Simpson has revealed he blames himself for the accident that’s left her in a coma.

In an exclusive interview from the Spanish hospital where Cally is being treated, distraught Steven Simpson fought back tears as he spoke for the first time about his daughter’s desperate fight for life.

He revealed how time slowed down as he spotted his daughter’s “blue” body lying next to the pool she had just been pulled from.

Hurdling sunbeds in blind panic, Steven screamed at Cally, “Come on baby, come back to us, don’t leave your daddy”, as sobbing, anguished relatives looked on.

Every waking second since has been wracked with guilt that he was unable to do more to prevent what happened.

He said: “She died at the side of the pool, but came back to us. We’re living every parent’s nightmare. All we can do now is pray Cally pulls through.”

Steven and Cally’s mum Kate Miller opened up about their torment after four-year-old Cally was discovered at the bottom of a Salou swimming pool almost a fortnight ago.

He has vowed to stay strong for his daughter’s sake, but despite being in no way at fault for nursery pupil Cally’s accident he feels his role as a doting dad demands he shoulder the blame for what happened.

The 26-year-old added: “I just can’t help but think the worst and I’m always blaming myself. People keep telling me that these things happen without warning, but it’s my daughter and I have a responsibility.”

An investigation has been launched at the Villamarina Hotel where Steven and 11 family members were staying after a holidaymaker rescued lifeless Cally from the pool floor on June 23.

Hotel bosses have suspended the lifeguard who was on duty at the time of the accident after witnesses alleged to have seen him on his mobile phone, while the Arbroath youngster slipped into water double her height in depth.

Dad Steven was at the toilet when it happened, having left Cally with no fewer than eight relatives at the pool area. The circumstances surrounding how Cally fell into the water remain unconfirmed.

Speaking from Barcelona’s Sant Joan de Deu children’s hospital, Steven revealed that last month’s week-long Spanish holiday had all the pieces in place to be an everlasting memory for him and his family.

With daughter Cally now four years old, the family’s annual summer getaway organised by gran Wendy would give the toddler her first ever trip abroad. However, the fun-loving tot was nervous.

The seven-day break would also be the longest time she’d have spent away from mum Kate, 30, who she lives with in Kirkton, Arbroath. Kate and Steven split up when their daughter was three weeks old.

Kate said: “I didn’t want her to go on holiday, but I couldn’t deprive her of her first trip abroad. I knew how much Steven wanted to spend time with her and that I couldn’t take her on holiday myself, so had to let her go. She told me how much she was going to miss me and I told her the same and how much I loved her.”

Despite being unable to swim, it was the prospect of adventures in the kids’ pool at their family-friendly hotel with all her cousins that eventually sparked some holiday excitement into Cally. That and the chance to see her favourite animals up close too dolphins.

Dad Steven, who used to work as a butcher, explained: “She was nervous to start with, as it was going to be the first full week she’d have been away from Kate, but she loves dolphins and the promise of going to a dolphin experience in Salou got her really excited by the time we were on our way.

“Her only disappointment actually was arriving at the airport on the Saturday and realising the pool of dolphins wasn’t waiting for her on the Tarmac! She went in the huff asking where the dolphins were and we had to explain that we’d meet them later.”

A trip to Aquapolis Water Park was planned for the Monday morning, but from the minute she arrived at the hotel Cally was in paradise. Playing with her four cousins, dad Steven had never seen her so happy.

He said: “Cally is scared of the water as she’d never really swam before. But the second she laid her eyes on the kids’ pool at the hotel, she was just desperate to get in.

“She was amazed by it, with its wee waterfall. She paddled in it and loved it.

“Those first few days were the best of my life. Cally lives with Kate, so I only see her two times a week. On those occasions though, she’s always asking for her mum.

“This holiday was the first time she had been with me and hadn’t asked for Kate once. She was so happy having the time of her life. For me, it was perfect.”

Monday arrived and the family set off to the Aquapolis dolphin show, which Cally was thrilled by. However, just hours later their entire world would be ripped apart in the blink of an eye.

Both Kate and Steven are convinced that Cally was using a plastic cup to take cupfuls of water out of the pool when she lost her balance and fell in to the near 5ft deep main part of the pool. With so many people already in the pool including eight of the travelling party no-one heard or saw her tip into the water.

“It’s just been the most horrendous accident,” said Steven. “I’d just left the toilet when I heard blood-curling screams, the type of which I’ve never, ever heard before or will ever be able to forget. I came round from the reception area and could see my mum’s face along with the screams. That’s when I knew something awful had happened.

“I leapfrogged sunbeds and tables and could see that it was Cally lying beside the pool. She was blue.

“I collapsed on my knees. I was in bits and blamed myself straight away. I lay on the ground next to Cally and screamed at her: ‘Come on, baby, come back to us, don’t leave your daddy!’”

After what felt “like a lifetime”, an ambulance arrived. Ten minutes later, Cally was breathing again.

Steven said: “All in, she received CPR for around 25 minutes. She died at the side of the pool.

“I was tearing my hair out when all of a sudden a police officer came over and told me the paramedics somehow had her breathing again. I couldn’t help but hug him.”

Cally was transferred by air ambulance to the specialist unit at the Barcelona children’s hospital.

Steven, who had to endure a “torturous” hour-long drive to be with his daughter was told on four occasions in the next 24 hours that his daughter was unlikely to survive.

But she wouldn’t be beaten.

Neurologists have ruled out the tot being brain dead and 12 days on from the accident Cally is almost breathing entirely of her own accord. However, the prognosis is likely that the music-loving youngster will encounter some degree of brain damage.

Top Spanish doctors have told Kate and Steven that white matter in Cally’s brain is significantly damaged. The cerebral gland area, which tells the body what to do and controls talking and movement, is the same.

“The doctors have been entirely honest with us,” said Kate. “When the MRI scan came back they told us it was really bad.

“However, they give us hope with stories of children encountering the same levels of brain damage but bouncing back to be perfectly healthy kids.”

The couple remain hopeful that Cally will recover, but are aware of the likelihood of her condition. At the time of the accident, one lifeguard was on patrol covering the Hotel Villamarina’s two pools. Because they are 30 metres apart and divided by trees and bushes, neither can be seen clearly from the other, meaning one pool is always without direct supervision.

Steven said: “I don’t think the pool area is unsafe in any way, but I completely disagree with the hotel only having one lifeguard covering both. That’s an impossible job. Every way you look at it, it’s wrong.

“The time it takes to get from one pool to another pool is simply too long. Seconds are vital in situations like Cally’s. To have a lifeguard the best part of 20 or 30 seconds away is wrong.”

Despite that though, he adds: “However, the only person I find myself blaming is myself.”