Mum shares 'traumatic' moment toddler almost drowned: 'Saw his lifeless purple body'
By Heidi Krause|
A US mum has opened up about the terrifying moment her toddler almost drowned in a friend's swimming pool.
Mandy Harris, from Florida, shared the ordeal with Tiny Hearts Education as a chilling warning for all parents to be "diligent around water".
"If it were not for a heroic teenage boy, and my sister's heroic action and CPR training, this would be a very different day for our family of eight," she wrote. "We would be planning a funeral."
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The mum-of-six explained her family had been invited to a friend's house for a swim one Saturday after football. She and about 10 other adults stood around the pool as lifeguards while the kids splashed around in the water.
"My three-year-old Calvin swam happily along with the other kids with his puddle jumper on," she recalls.
"As I was talking with some friends, Cal came out of the pool and said he wanted to dry off. He asked me to take off his puddle jumper because he wanted to get something to eat."
A puddle jumper is a swimming vest that fits across a child's chest and is attached to two arm floaties.
According to Harris, "the rest gets fuzzy", but she recalls chatting to her teenage daughter for a minute and taking a photo of the teens playing in the pool, thinking 'what an awesome happy day with friends'.
"I gasp every time I look at it because at the moment that I was happily taking that photo, my boy was submerged, drowning and I had no idea!"
Incredibly, in the photo, Harris said you can see 14-year-old Luke กช "our hero, our angel" กช investigating something "that just didn't look right" before he went in and pulled Calvin out.
"The next thing I hear is my sister's chilling scream CALVIN!!," Harris shared. "I looked over and saw his lifeless purple body laying on the poolside.
"We moved him over and my sister Karen started CPR compressions while I held his head. My husband who had just arrived came over and kept screaming 'NO CAL, WE NEED YOU!". I kept thinking in my head, 'I cant lose another baby!' (our first baby died at two-months due to an intestinal defect)."
Fortunately, her sister Karen, who is a childcare worker and had 15 years of CPR education and training, knew exactly what to do.
"He vomited a few times and we turned his head so that he wouldn't aspirate," Harris continued. "She pressed on his chest without ceasing until some signs of life, a glimmer of hope was allowed. The tears are just not stopping as I am typing this."
Gradually, the little boy "started breathing very shallow" and had some colour come back as Harris' worst thoughts continued to spiral and his siblings, family and friends watched on.
"I kept thinking, 'Is he going to be ok? Is he going to live? Is he going to be brain dead? I watched and just panicked in shock. I didn't know what to do," she revealed. "Traumatic, horrible, gut-wrenching, guilt?"
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Fortunately, first responders showed up after six minutes of CPR and Calvin was taken to hospital by ambulance.
"I was able to sit with him on the stretcher in the ambulance thankfully listening to his screams, yet still terrified of the unknowns," Harris added.
"I was just in shock - no tears... I was mad at my reaction which was just a blank stare. Questions were asked, tests were done in the ER and I was told that his initial bloodwork and x-rays looked better than they expected. They told me that they thought he would make a full recovery. I could not even believe it. After seeing what we saw กช how could he be fine?"
The little boy spent the next 12 hours recovering at hospital and was discharged the following morning at 11am.
While Harris still suffers "debilitating flashbacks", she is incredibly grateful Calvin survived and is urging other parents to be careful and diligent.
"This could have ended VERY differently," she shared. "Seconds mattered. Heroic actions mattered. I have no idea why we were allowed to keep him, but we are thanking GOD every minute.
"How can I forgive myself for letting my guard down, for becoming careless and too comfortable? So many of our friends and family have said, 'This can happen to anyone' and while my head knows this is true, my heart is just so mad at myself.,"
"I feel compelled to educate everyone as quickly as possible on how this can and does happen. It happens silently. It happens with adults watching the pool. It happens to people who make their kids wear life jackets every time, just like we did. It happens even with a pool full of people at arm's reach. It happens and it's HORRIBLE.
"Please Please please, go get CPR training...sign up your entire family for it tomorrow and renew it yearly. Sign your children up for swim lessons and survival swimming."
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Harris is also urging parents to educate themselves on the dangers of using puddle jumpers in the pool, use should be limited to open waters and beaches.
"Use of the puddle jumper is a big factor into why Calvin felt so comfortable and went right in, forgetting he didn't have it on! With so much commotion, this went unnoticed," she wrote.
"Hug your babies, tell them you love them and PLEASE be diligent around the water. I have no idea why this happened to us, but If my message helps one child's life from being spared, it will be worth posting.
"I am feeling embarrassed, shameful, scared and vulnerable, but this is not about me, so PLEASE SHARE!"
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