Almost a Water Tragedy: One Mother’s Story

Photo By Pamela Doty | Almost a Water Tragedy: One Mother's Story Header Picture  

UNITED STATES

09.29.2021

Story by Pamela Doty 

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Water Safety

This is a story of one mother’s experience with her two children who could have drowned, along with the lessons she learned, and more tips on preventing the loss of your loved ones to drowning. After this incident, Chassity Brown from Donaldson, Arkansas proclaimed, “I wear a life jacket because I want my children to wear one!” The image used with the title of this story was taken about an hour before the near tragedy happened.

In the mother’s own words, “The sweet little girl in this picture decided to jump off the back of our boat and try to land on this raft. Her older sister followed behind her in order to help her back to shore. They are both great swimmers who have had many lessons. However, she missed the raft and was not able to get on it. When trying to come back to shore she got tired called out to her sister who jumped out to help her. That is when my youngest crawled on my oldest daughters back and they both began to drown. Only by grace did I happen to see them struggling to get back to the boat. After getting them safe, I asked what they were thinking going in the water without letting me know or having on a life jacket. Their words will stick with me forever, ’I can swim just like you and you don't wear a life jacket to swim to shore, you only wear one on the boat.’ I spent hours worrying about…drowning. Days feeling like a horrible mom for not being right on top of them (I was about 20 feet away getting their youngest brother in dry clothes) and replaying the event in my head to this day. I almost lost my children because I set a bad example and because I took being around the water for granted.”

There was one word edited out of a sentence in the mother’s description about how she spent hours worrying about drowning afterwards. She originally used the term “dry” drowning. That is a commonly misused term. The inaccurate use of terminology regarding drownings like dry, wet, near, and delayed/secondary is prevalent, especially on the internet. When cause of death is recorded as some subsequent result of drowning, the initial drowning cause of death is not accurately recorded.

The mother’s concern after the incident was understandable because people can survive drowning and then succumb to the affects after they are out of the water. Anyone who has been underwater that has symptoms of difficulty breathing, excessive cough, foam in their mouth, or they just aren’t acting right, needs to seek medical attention immediately because their symptoms can progressively get worse.

Learning to swim well is a great idea, but as this story verifies, children in the water should always be watched constantly and kept within arm’s reach of an adult. It only takes an average of 20-seconds for a child to drown and 60-seconds for an adult. In open waters (lakes, rivers, ponds, etc.) everyone should wear a life jacket and never swim alone. The open-water swimming environment is so different than in a pool where it’s easy for a swimmer to reach the edge or touch the bottom.

Another great lesson from this story is that children watch and learn from adults. When boating or swimming around boats, everyone should be wearing a properly-fitted life jacket. Many people who drown know how to swim. The problem is swimming ability can decrease if it’s not done on a regular basis and swimming in open-water has more challenges than swimming in a pool, like wave action and currents. Plus, many people who drown never intended to enter the water. When someone suddenly falls into the water, or anytime they overestimate their swimming ability, people can panic and quickly drown.

Thanks to Chassity for sharing her story so others can learn from it and take actions to avoid the same experience. Remember that swimming lessons are great, but they don’t override the need for everyone to wear a properly-fitted life jacket when, in, on, or near the water and for adults to keep children within arm’s reach. Please share this story with your loved one’s so it can help save more lives on our nation’s waters.

• Date Taken: 09.29.2021
• Date Posted: 09.29.2021 12:08
• Story ID: 406292
• Location: US