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Every summer I repost this article on how to spot drowning. Please read it and pass on. In the last few years I’ve had SIX messages from people who saved a kid’s life after clicking on the link from my feed.
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Many years ago we were having a pool party. My wife and our adult niece were standing on the steps of the pool, so I walked over to say hi. Looked down and there was our niece’s toddler daughter standing on the lower step, head totally submerged, just looking up at me through the water. Words wouldn’t even come out - I just reached in, grabbed her arm, and pulled her up out of the water. When I started to reach between them, my wife and niece looked at me like I was being a jerk or something, then both got wide-eyed when they saw the girl come up out of the water. She had been standing on the same step as them, but accidentally stepped off to the lower and they didn’t notice. Terrifying.
- 5 months
That is absolutely terrifying. Good instincts on your part. I’m assuming/hoping she was okay?
Totally fine - she didn’t even seem phased at the time - wasn’t crying or anything - was wondering why her mom was holding her and crying.
- 5 months
I can confirm this - I have nearly drowned a few times, and it felt like I couldn’t move. The natural reactions just took over me, and to be honest felt quite counterproductive. Until I was helped, I felt completely frozen, only moved by the water, until someone helped me, it was terrifying.
One of the worst parts was because I had got water in my lungs, even as I was helped above the water, I tried to breathe, but I simply couldnt. I thought I was going to die and I couldnt communicate it because, like the article says, breathing first, speaking second. It took what felt like multiple minutes but was probably like 10-20 seconds before I could actually breathe.
I’m very grateful for those who have saved me, and I clearly haven’t learned my lesson because I still love being in water :P
5 monthsI watched a kid nearly drown in waist deep water. To this day I have no idea what happened, but it looked like he was floating, then flopping around playfully, then going back to floating. I was standing on the shore just getting my feet wet (this was a “beach” outside Toronto) and I was just kind of watching him because his behavior seemed off somehow. After one of his “flops” he started a face down float, which he’s done a few times, but this time it kept going.
I had been counting in my head without even realizing it and we were up to about 60s when I started looking around. Had anyone else noticed? His mom came over and started calling to him. Ok, she’s in control. Another 30s pass and his mother is getting panicked. Fuck, I’m fully clothed, an hour from home, should I dive in? Something is definitely wrong. Someone do something… I turn around and start yelling as well.
Finally someone drags him, limp, from barely 3 feet of water. WTF. People are giving him CPR and I check his pulse between breaths… Fuck. I can’t find a pulse. Then he rockets a half gallon of water from his lungs and sits up. Finally some lifeguards show up.
I’d completely froze in the moment. I sensed something was off and didn’t do anything. Thank God the kid survived, but I think about it way too much…
- Janx@piefed.socialEnglish5 months
A crisis is, by definition, abnormal. Please don’t kick yourself for not acting as quickly or as perfectly as you want to in hindsight. I’ve been there before too, and the threshold for “this really is happening, I have to act” isn’t always clear…
- 5 months
Surely you learned something, and wouldn’t be drowning for the exact same reason next time?
- 5 months
When I was a kid at some church event at a local kids camp I noticed a kid that jumped from the (very low) diving board wasn’t coming up. I had no idea what drowning actually liked like. I yelled to the lifeguard but jumped in anyway. The lifeguard saved the kid before I got over, but a chaperone noticed and sent a letter home to my parents saying they should be proud. I learned that day that cartoons aren’t so real
