The Austin, Texas, temperatures broke every record this May with several days already in the triple digits. This summer appears to be on its way to be one of the hottest in Austin’s history. That is, after this weekend’s “cold front” passes, a front that will drop the temperatures in the Texas capital down to a cool 97 degrees for a couple of days.
It is thus no wonder that families will once again flock en masse to our beautiful Texas lakes, rivers, ponds and beaches or just enjoy their neighborhood and backyard swimming pools.
It is, however, very tragic that during what should be happy family occasions, sometimes the “unimaginable” happens — when a family member, all too often a child, drowns.
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC):
From 2005-2014, there were an average of 3,536 fatal unintentional drownings (non-boating related) annually in the United States — about ten deaths per day.1 An additional 332 people died each year from drowning in boating-related incidents.
What is even more sad, “[a]bout one in five people who die from drowning are children 14 and younger. For every child who dies from drowning, another five receive emergency department care for nonfatal submersion injuries.”
Already this year, 33 children have drowned in Texas. Of these, almost half occurred in swimming pools, which brings me to what happened on a beautiful June day almost 10 years ago at an Austin, Texas, swimming pool.*
To be precise, on June 13, 2008, Colin Holst, a proud and happy 4 1/2-year-old little boy went to the “big pool” — just one day after graduating from swimming lessons and receiving his medal.
Colin was having a ball playing in the fountains and sprinklers with his friends, all moving around the pool together in a clump, playing and splashing and ducking in and out of the water.
Suddenly, in an instant, Colin wasn’t with them. Time stood still as all eyes swept the pool looking for him, and then, only moments later, Colin was pulled from the shallow water unconscious and not breathing. Efforts to revive him at the pool were unsuccessful. Colin, the baby boy born “with a mop of dark hair that looked just like his mother’s,” died at the hospital the next day, having never opened his eyes again after his swim.
Out of this unimaginable tragedy, sprang a glimmer of hope — even of good.
Grief-stricken by their loss and shocked to learn the cruel toll drowning takes on children of Colin’s age, Colin’s family founded an organization dedicated to preventing such tragedies from befalling other families: Colin’s Hope.
Colin’s Hope is “a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that creates and supports programs that aid in preventing children from drowning…Colin’s Hope of saving children from drowning is being achieved through increased water safety awareness and improved standards throughout the community.”
More simply, the 10-year-young organization’s vision continues to be “a world where children do not drown…”
Please visit Colin’s Hope here to learn more about its mission and programs to help create such a world and please watch the video below to hear from Colin’s father and from another Dad who faced the “unimaginable.” Most of all, please open your heart to this wonderful organization.
*Note: Parts of this article have previously appeared here and here.
Colin’s Hope logo courtesy of Colin’s Hope.
The author is a retired U.S. Air Force officer and a writer.