(Local10.com) – Florida leads the nation in the number of drowning deaths among preschoolers, and those who survive are often left with long-term disabilities caused by severe brain damage.
“It happened so quick. We didn’t even realize it,” Tanya Woodford said. “One minute, he was in the house playing. Next minute, he was in the bottom of the pool.”
Woodford’s son, Jayden, was just 2 years old when he fell into a pool in the family’s backyard.
“He didn’t have a heartbeat for an hour, so they didn’t really expect him to make it. They said I should get ready to donate his organs,” Woodford said. Tunishia Wardally received an equally grim prognosis after her son, Talib, nearly drowned in 2014.
“We were told from the neurologist that Talib would never smile again, he would never eat again, he would never walk again — that he would never do anything — that his best bet was Talib would be on a trach (tube) and a feeding tube for the rest of his life,” Wardally said. CONTINUE