Erika Nordby

Erika Nordby (born February 2000), also known as Baby Erika, Miracle Baby and Canada's Miracle Child, is a Canadian originally from Edmonton, Alberta known for having been revived after spending two hours without a heartbeat due to hypothermia. Nordby, then a 13-month-old toddler, had left her heated house nearly naked, while the air temperature was .

Freezing Erika and her mother, 26-year-old Leyla Nordby, were spending the night of 22/23 February 2001 at a friend's home in Edmonton. The temperature outside was approximately . As the girl customarily had a bottle around 2 am, her mother became concerned when she awoke at 3 am and Erika was not beside her in bed. Leyla found her in a snowbank shortly thereafter by following footprints leading away from the back door. She brought Erika inside and called an ambulance, and attempted CPR and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, but was unsuccessful. Paramedics were unable to intubate at the scene due to Erika's condition.

Erika's heart resumed beating after she was placed under a warming blanket.

Although Leyla was never formally charged, she became a subject of intense media scrutiny because of her aboriginal ethnicity and her social circumstances.

A civil suit was filed on Erika's behalf against the landlord and tenants of the building that she had been staying in the night she was frozen. The suit sought C$101,000 in damages and compensation because the defendants were aware of but failed to correct the faulty latch on the door that Erika had used. The province of Alberta also sued these defendants, seeking compensation for the costs of Erika's health care.

Legacy Erika's story was recounted in the song "Erika Nordby (Canada's Miracle Child)" by Canadian artist Stompin' Tom Connors, released on his album Stompin' Tom Sings Canadian History; the song described how Erika "captured the world with her smile". The incident was also discussed in a government report about "mothering under duress", which called Erika a "legend". She was the subject of an episode of Life's Little Miracles, a TV show on Discovery Health Channel, and was mentioned in an episode of Nova on PBS titled "Making Stuff Colder".

Erika's experience was mentioned as one indication of the medical relevance of a Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center study on "anoxia-induced suspended animation" in zebrafish.