Mother discusses saving 20-month-old boy’s life
A mother still pictures her 20-month-old child lying face down in a swimming pool every time she looks at her toddler.
The mother, who does not want her identity or that of her son to be revealed, saved her child’s life on Tuesday, last week.
The incident took place in Western Extension.
The mother was in the kitchen and the boy was on the floor playing by her side.
After some time she could not hear her son playing next to her anymore.
“I went outside to see if he was at the gate and, when I came back, I found him floating in the pool,” said the woman.
“I saw him in the pool and I thought it was just his jacket.
“When I saw his legs, I jumped in; I thought he was dead because he was just floating.
“I lifted him out of the pool and ran screaming to the neighbour: ‘Aunty, Aunty help me’.”
The shaken mother then performed CPR on her child for about a minute before the toddler responded.
She said while she was performing the CPR she did not cry, in fear of not knowing what to do next.
ER24 paramedics arrived on scene and found the boy in a stable condition.
The emotional mother said, a couple of days after the incident, that her son would not have survived had it not been for a week long first aid and CPR training course which she completed in 2009.
She is still shaken by the incident.
“I am relieved, but I am still a little bit scared,” she said.
“When I see him the whole incident happens again in my mind.”
The boy was discharged from hospital the day he was admitted.
If you can’t afford a net, don’t get a pool… People should know by now that children drown in swimming pools. They should be charged if precautions are not taken. We hear that babies drown everyday but still happens. And then mommy wants to cry when it happens. Why must an innocent child die because of the negligence of others?
If you can’t afford a net, don’t get a pool… People should know by now that children drown in swimming pools. They should be charged if precautions are not taken. We hear that babies drown everyday but still happens. Why must an innocent child die because of the negligence of others?