Arizona mother on a mission to prevent drownings after son's tragedy
PHOENIX - An Arizona mother has a warning about drownings after her son survived one, but was never the same.
Her nightmare started with a call that no parent ever wants.
"I got a phone call that something happened," Lindsey Black said. "Something happened to one of my boys."
Her son was nearing 2-years-old when he fell into a babysitter's pool.
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"They don't know how long he was under, but the blood toxicity said he was about 45 minutes without oxygen, and he was 30 minutes in cardiac arrest," Black said.
The family was forever changed in an instant.
That was in 2006, but Santana lived for seven more years using a feeding tube and oxygen to sustain him.
"My other two boys, they lost their mom at the same time for a while. I was devastated, but I took that, I took all of that and said ‘I need to give back for him,’" Black said.
Her mission is to save families from the same pain.
"The only way to stop it is to get eyes on these kids. Get the barriers, then get the classes," she said.
Those are options that could've saved her son's life.
"I didn't have those classes. There wasn't a fully fenced pool at the property that it happened at," she explained.
It was a heartbreaking loss – both times.
"I've lost him twice. I've lost two different versions of my son, and I miss them both," she said. "So much."
Click here for drowning prevention tips from the Drowning Prevention Coalition of Arizona.
