CHAPEL HILL — Little Hailey's fight for her life can bring tears to most everyone. The past couple of days have been especially emotional for her father.

"It's a tremendous relief," Oscar Bogue said Thursday as his 4-year-old daughter talked and ate Jello.

Oscar Bogue tries to put his relief into words. But how can one explain the feeling of losing a child, finding her, then practically losing her again.

"For all intents and purposes, for a while, she was dead," said Dr. Duncan Phillips. "For roughly one half-hour, you could call her dead."

"I was just so numb, and so I didn't know what to do," Oscar Bogue said.

A team of doctors was able to revive Hailey, and even they are amazed by her recovery. Now she's eating, drinking and talking -- about how she got lost.

"She told me, 'I tried to find it, Daddy, I tried to find it,' and she just couldn't find her way back," Oscar Bogue said. She just got real turned around."

Bogue says Hailey was in the custody of her mother when she wandered off. He is pledging to bring her home with him when she is released from the hospital. And he is just thankful she's alive.

"I did the only thing I knew to do -- to get on my hands and knees and pray to the Lord, and I really feel like he put a blanket over her and took care of her."

Doctors say Hailey could be released in a couple of days if all goes well.