Family seeks more time for hospitalized toddler after pool near-drowning

Annelise Camp’s family is asking a Harris County court for more time as the 2-year-old remains hospitalized at Texas Children’s Hospital after a Memorial Day near-drowning at a hotel pool in Harris County. The case has become a fight over treatment, transfer options and the timing of brain-death testing, with a June 11 hearing set to determine what happens next.

According to local reports, Annelise was at the pool with relatives on May 25, 2026, when she somehow went back into the water after taking off her life jacket. ABC13 Houston reported that her 12-year-old cousin found her at the bottom of the pool. Her father, Johnston Camp, said he rushed in and performed CPR, and family members kept working on her before first responders arrived. Johnston Camp later said it took about an hour for Annelise’s heartbeat to return.

The family has obtained a temporary restraining order in Harris County while it pursues legal action to preserve treatment options. Court records reported by local media say the family and Texas Children’s Hospital agreed that brain-death testing could continue while supportive care remained in place pending the June 11 hearing. The parents also are seeking a transfer to another hospital, saying they want every chance to keep options open for their daughter.

Texas Children’s Hospital said it has “exhausted all medically viable options” and later said there were “no imminent plans” to stop treatment. The hospital also said it reached out to 24 other hospitals about transfer possibilities. Court documents reported by local coverage said 22 of those facilities denied the requests, underscoring how hard it has been for the family to find another place willing to take the child.

The legal fight sits on top of Texas medical law, which defines death in part by the irreversible cessation of spontaneous respiratory and circulatory functions, or, when artificial support masks that determination, the irreversible cessation of all spontaneous brain function. Texas law also sets out a formal dispute process for treatment decisions in certain cases. For Annelise’s family, that framework now collides with a parent’s effort to keep a critically injured child alive long enough for another hospital, another opinion or another chance.