On June 8, 2009 my youngest daughter Olivia drowned.
I am a very experienced swim coach and I was a lifeguard instructor for the Red Cross for years. The pool I rented was also one I supervised and the 4 lifeguards on duty for our private pool party were trained and managed by me. There were four friends in attendance that were also certified lifeguards as well as my sister. Everyone else was family and close friends. We got everyone out of the pool for pizza and took Olivia’s floaties off.
As we finished up pizza Olivia’s dad and I went into the kitchen of the facility to get watermelon and cupcakes for dessert. As I came out I saw her tiny 2 year old body in her yellow polka dot bikini floating on her back. The thoughts went through my mind so quickly that she was in the water with no floaties, she was floating on her back, but wait her face was tipped too far back and underwater, and oh *expletive* she’s not moving. I jumped in the water and threw the watermelon. I still had a towel wrapped around me and my shoes on. I was the first and only person to see my lifeless daughter in a pool full of friends and experienced and well trained emergency professionals. When I got to her she was lifeless and blue. Her eyes were open. She was having agonal gasps, her body was blue, and her lips were dark purple. To me…. she was dead.
I remember picking her up and holding her above my head as I carried her back to the edge of the pool because I wanted her as far away from the water as possible. With all of my screaming and commotion the crowd left me no room to climb out of the edge of the pool where I laid her down so that I could assess her and begin lifesaving measures. I remember so many hands reaching for her. People panicking and trying to help and I just kept hitting them because they were doing it wrong and wouldn’t give me room to do it myself. My sister Maggie was able to get through the crowd of people. She kept her wits and started by tilting Olivia’s head back so that she could check for signs of life. (Airway, breathing, and circulation). She opened Olivia’s airway by force because her jaw was locked shut and once Olivia’s airway opened she had spontaneous breathing and slowly woke up. My mom picked her up and I got out of the pool and took her from her arms and went back into the water. I wanted to have enough space to check on her without everyone’s hands and voices and help. I was terrified, wailing, screaming, and pretty much out of my mind.
I was coaxed back out of the water. The ambulance came so quickly and took her but we didn’t know if she was going to be ok. I wasn’t allowed to ride in back with her because no one was able to calm me down. She didn’t talk, cry, react to anything for hours. She went to Memorial Hermann first and was assessed, transported, and treated at Texas Children’s. She had minimal water in her lungs thankfully due to a reflex known as a laryngospasm. She survived thank the Lord only.
That’s my story… drowning is the leading cause of death for children ages 1-4 and it is completely preventable but accidents can happen to ANYONE! Teaching swim is my passion and I also believe my greatest talent. Swim lessons save lives. I will never be the same. This experience created an intense passion for the career path I had already chosen.
Olivia continued learning to swim with me. We did not keep her out of the water because she was afraid and the following summer at age three she joined our summer league swim team and she was a good enough swimmer to participate in swim meets. She still swims summer league and club swimming on and off. She will be on the varsity swim team next year as a freshman at her high school. I am so blessed to go home to her every day.
Drowning is the leading cause of death in children 1 to 4 next to car accidents. We at All Things Swim are committed to changing these statistics in our community and spreading drowning prevention awareness. Swim lessons should be EVERY CHILD’s first activity.