Car wash to benefit brain-damaged toddler BY KAREN E. BOWES Staff Writer KEYPORT - An upcoming car wash is geared to offset the medical bills of a Keansburg boy suffering from brain damage after nearly drowning in June. On Sept. 15 and 16, the staff of Brite Futures Day Care, Keyport, will devote their weekend to scrubbing bumpers and waxing fenders. At $5 a car, the staff hopes to raise funds for the parents of the victim. "They're young parents," according to Adrienne Graff, an employee of the daycare center. "The mom is only 21. She had to quit her job to be home with the baby. We just wanted to do something to help." Graff said the day-care center wishes to keep the name of the family anonymous. "He's 3 now and he was 2 ½ when the accident happened," Graff said on Monday, adding that the incident happened in Union Beach at a baby sitter's house. "He fell in a pool, a built-in pool. … They pulled him out, the first aid came, they tried to revive him, but they couldn't revive him." Afterward, the boy was transported to Saint Peter's University Hospital in New Brunswick, where he remained on a respirator over two weeks, Graff said. "He had no brain activity at all," Graff said, "no reflexes, nothing was working. The brain swelling went down, but he still couldn't breath on his own." Graff said doctors didn't expect the child to make it through the night. "There was no hope there," she said. But after several weeks in the hospital, the boy was sent to a rehabilitation center. "They kept saying he was brain dead, he had no functions but the parents couldn't let go," Graff reported. Eventually, the child started moving his eyes. Now at home, he is off the respirator and breathing on his own. Still, the child requires constant care, leaving his mother unable to work. All funds collected will be given directly to the parents. The car wash will take place at the day-care center, located at 17 Third St., Keyport, on Sept. 15 and 16 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Cost is $5. For more information or to make a donation, call Brite Future Cay Care at (732) 888-0697.