23-month old Skyler Bullocks died early Saturday morning just after 7 a.m. after suffering severe brain damage when she fell into an in-ground pool at her former foster grandmother's home daycare in Osceola.
Skyler's mother, Johnanna Bullocks, talked with WSBT Channel 22 News on Wednesday.
Skyler would have turned 2 in a few weeks.
Bullocks said she regained custody of Skyler this past June after her daughter, one of 8 children, spent most of her life in foster care.
However, Skyler remained close with her former foster family.
Bullocks says Skyler loved to act like a princess, wearing lip gloss, high heels, and sun glasses.
She, like most kids her age, enjoyed SpongeBob and Dora.
And she was almost potty trained.
On August 2nd, Bullocks dropped Skyler off at her former foster mom's house while she ran errands. The foster mother had to go to work, so she took Skyler to Mary Schrock, her former foster grandmother's house nearby on Beverly Court in Osceola.
It was at that house where Schrock ran a home day care where Skyler fell into the in-ground pool in the backyard.
Osceola Police Chief Phil Brown was the first rescuer to try to help Skyler.
"She almost looked like a little baby doll there. We picked her up, got water out of her and started CPR," Brown says.
Skyler's mother says she stayed by her daughter's side but she never woke up after that. Doctors told her she had 85% brain damage.
She was put on life support at Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis. She stablized and was moved back to a hospital in South Bend on August 17 when Skyler was taken off a ventilator. Skyler's mom said if felt like a miracle when Skyler started breathing on her own.
Although still in a coma-like state, she was discharged and went home with Bullocks.
Bullocks says it was difficult caring for Skyler, and hospice workers came often to help. But last Tuesday, trouble with Skyler's feeding tube caused her to be taken to the Hospice Care Center in Roseland where she died Saturday.
Bullocks says no parent should have to bury their own child. And while she knows the foster family loved Skyler, she believes Schrock should be charged in connection with Skyler's death.
WSBT contacted Mary Schrock by phone Wednesday and she did NOT want to comment about what happened to Skyler.
The St. Joseph County Metro Homicide Unit investigated the accident and has turned over its reports to the Prosecutor's Office.
Those reports are currently being reviewed, and no decision has been made yet on whether or not any charges will be filed in Skyler's death, according to Lora Bentley with the Prosecutor's office.
Skyler Bullock's funeral is set for Saturday at the Second Baptist Church on Filmore Road in South Bend.
