Lifestyle

<p>The story has a happy ending, but it&#39;s terrifying nonetheless.</p><p><span style="font-family: BlinkMacSystemFont, -apple-system, &quot;Segoe UI&quot;, Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, &quot;Fira Sans&quot;, &quot;Droid Sans&quot;, &quot;Helvetica Neue&quot;, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.1rem; letter-spacing: -0.01em;">Maribeth </span>Leeson&#39;s<span style="font-family: BlinkMacSystemFont, -apple-system, &quot;Segoe UI&quot;, Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, &quot;Fira Sans&quot;, &quot;Droid Sans&quot;, &quot;Helvetica Neue&quot;, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.1rem; letter-spacing: -0.01em;"> five-year-old son Adam drowned in a busy pool, surrounded by adults. He was saved with CPR and hospitalized soon after, and </span>Leeson<span style="font-family: BlinkMacSystemFont, -apple-system, &quot;Segoe UI&quot;, Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, &quot;Fira Sans&quot;, &quot;Droid Sans&quot;, &quot;Helvetica Neue&quot;, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.1rem; letter-spacing: -0.01em;"> told her story in a viral post hoping that all parents will learn &quot;the signs of struggle.&quot;</span></p><p>&quot;He looked like he was PLAYING,&quot; Leeson <a href="https://www.facebook.com/maribeth.leeson?__tn__=%2Cd*F*F-R&amp;eid=ARBqmLA8ludJKerSDLAgagEKE2HHgbMBCjcoIn2p_RniV40Cm7hOTHGur-z6RY9DJY1JE8_NSDJOvUvy&amp;tn-str=*F">wrote in a Facebook post </a>that now has over 240,000 shares. &quot;When I found him myself, 2 feet from adults who were in the pool, my first thought was that it wasn&rsquo;t him, that it was <a href="https://www.today.com/parents/pregnant-mom-rescues-drowning-boy-while-teaching-sons-float-t159473" target="_blank">someone else&rsquo;s kid </a>who was seeing how long they could hold their breath.&quot;</p><p>&quot;His limp, gray, lifeless body was pulled from the pool and it was every mother&#39;s worst nightmare. He was dead,&quot; Leeson wrote. &quot;I heard screaming, and after a minute realized the screaming was coming from me. I watched in slow motion as people rushed to him, as he was laid on the concrete, as CPR was started.</p><div className="ad-splitter"></div><p>After what felt like an eternity, Adam opened his eyes. He had a pulse.&quot;</p><p>Adam spent three days at Peyton Manning Children&#39;s Hospital in Indianapolis, Indiana. &quot;Physically, it is beyond comprehension that he is suffering no consequences,&quot; Leeson wrote&mdash;and Adam is already eager to get back in the pool.</p><p>Emotionally, &quot;he clearly has some anxiety that he didn&#39;t have before,&quot; shouting &quot;Mommy!&quot; every time she is out of sight. &quot; I pray that some counseling and lots of reassurance will fix that,&quot; she wrote.</p><p>Leeson was candid in her post about how she blamed herself for what happened:</p><blockquote> <p>This was 100% preventable. The fault was MINE. He&#39;s a big 5-year-old. He has a very needy twin who makes it easy for me to forget that Adam is still 5 too and has needs that other 5-year-olds need. He&#39;s not self-sufficient even though sometimes I feel like he is because he&#39;s so capable. I didn&#39;t tell him to get in the pool without his Puddle-jumper on, but I was aware that he had. I simply told him to stay in the shallow end while I got his sister&#39;s swimsuit on, then I would be over. I thought it was fine for 5 minutes, as he could touch just fine in the shallow end, he wasn&#39;t alone because there were multiple adults IN the pool, and I&#39;d be right next to the pool getting her suit on. Wrong. I have never ever been so wrong. He remembers what happened. He said he slipped off the edge. Based on where he was in the shallow end, and where we found him, he means the ledge from the shallow to the deep end. He said he kept going to the bottom then to the top and tried to yell &quot;Mommy!&quot; It kills me to hear that. It kills me to know that his last thoughts were that mommy didn&#39;t come for him. But God decided to give me another chance to do better. He gave my baby back to me. Now he knows I DID come for him.</p> </blockquote><div className="ad-splitter"></div><p>She included practical advice to parents to make sure that a near-tragedy like this doesn&#39;t happen again.</p><p>&quot;Before going to any pool, first make sure your kids know not to get in until the adult who is responsible for them is ready to watch them. That sounds like common sense, but I was thinking because so many adults were present, he was fine, but those adults didn&rsquo;t know his swimming ability so they didn&rsquo;t question when he was under water,&quot; Leeson explained.</p><p>She also explained to parents that it&#39;s crucial to know the signs of drowning. In Adam&#39;s case, &quot;he wasn&#39;t splashing, thrashing, or screaming. He was simply underwater and couldn&#39;t get his head above water.&quot;</p><p>After three days in the ICU, Adam is home, happy, and full of life.</p><div class="oembedall-container sec-iframe sec-oembed-iframe"><div class="fb-post" data-href="https://www.facebook.com/maribeth.leeson/posts/2774736439222418" data-width="552"><blockquote cite="https://graph.facebook.com/100000582684342/posts/2774736439222418/" class="fb-xfbml-parse-ignore"><p>We&#039;re home! We actually got here last night. Adam is fantastic, outside of coughing and shortness of breath with too...</p>Posted by <a href="#" role="button">Maribeth Leeson</a> on <a href="https://graph.facebook.com/100000582684342/posts/2774736439222418/">Wednesday, July 24, 2019</a></blockquote></div></div><div className="ad-splitter"></div><p>&quot;Please don&#39;t forget Adam and his story!&quot; Leeson wrote. &quot;Remember every time you go to a pool. Watch your own kids, and also signs of drowning from others as well. Learn CPR. If Adam can save some lives by teaching others my mistakes, all he&#39;s been through will be worth it!&quot;</p><div className="ad-splitter"></div>

Mom who's son almost drowns warns parents to 'know the signs of struggle' when swimming.

The story has a happy ending, but it&#39;s terrifying nonetheless.Maribeth Leeson&#39;s five-year-old son Adam drowned in a busy pool, surrounded by adults. He was saved with CPR and hospitalized soon after, and Leeson told her story in a viral post hoping that all parents will learn &quot;the signs of struggle.&quot;&quot;He looked like he was PLAYING,&quot; Leeson wrote in a Facebook post that now has over 240,000 shares. &quot;When I found him myself, 2 feet from adults who were in the pool, my first thought was that it wasn&rsquo;t him, that it was someone else&rsquo;s kid who was seeing how long they could hold their breath.&quot;&quot;His limp, gray, lifeless body was pulled from the pool and it was every mother&#39;s worst nightmare. He was dead,&quot; Leeson wrote. &quot;I heard screaming, and after a minute realized the screaming was coming from me. I watched in slow motion as people rushed to him, as he was laid on the concrete, as CPR was started.After what felt like an eternity, Adam opened his eyes. He had a pulse.&quot;Adam spent three days at Peyton Manning Children&#39;s Hospital in Indianapolis, Indiana. &quot;Physically, it is beyond comprehension that he is suffering no consequences,&quot; Leeson wrote&mdash;and Adam is already eager to get back in the pool.Emotionally, &quot;he clearly has some anxiety that he didn&#39;t have before,&quot; shouting &quot;Mommy!&quot; every time she is out of sight. &quot; I pray that some counseling and lots of reassurance will fix that,&quot; she wrote.Leeson was candid in her post about how she blamed herself for what happened: This was 100% preventable. The fault was MINE. He&#39;s a big 5-year-old. He has a very needy twin who makes it easy for me to forget that Adam is still 5 too and has needs that other 5-year-olds need. He&#39;s not self-sufficient even though sometimes I feel like he is because he&#39;s so capable. I didn&#39;t tell him to get in the pool without his Puddle-jumper on, but I was aware that he had. I simply told him to stay in the shallow end while I got his sister&#39;s swimsuit on, then I would be over. I thought it was fine for 5 minutes, as he could touch just fine in the shallow end, he wasn&#39;t alone because there were multiple adults IN the pool, and I&#39;d be right next to the pool getting her suit on. Wrong. I have never ever been so wrong. He remembers what happened. He said he slipped off the edge. Based on where he was in the shallow end, and where we found him, he means the ledge from the shallow to the deep end. He said he kept going to the bottom then to the top and tried to yell &quot;Mommy!&quot; It kills me to hear that. It kills me to know that his last thoughts were that mommy didn&#39;t come for him. But God decided to give me another chance to do better. He gave my baby back to me. Now he knows I DID come for him. She included practical advice to parents to make sure that a near-tragedy like this doesn&#39;t happen again.&quot;Before going to any pool, first make sure your kids know not to get in until the adult who is responsible for them is ready to watch them. That sounds like common sense, but I was thinking because so many adults were present, he was fine, but those adults didn&rsquo;t know his swimming ability so they didn&rsquo;t question when he was under water,&quot; Leeson explained.She also explained to parents that it&#39;s crucial to know the signs of drowning. In Adam&#39;s case, &quot;he wasn&#39;t splashing, thrashing, or screaming. He was simply underwater and couldn&#39;t get his head above water.&quot;After three days in the ICU, Adam is home, happy, and full of life.We&#039;re home! We actually got here last night. Adam is fantastic, outside of coughing and shortness of breath with too...Posted by Maribeth Leeson on Wednesday, July 24, 2019&quot;Please don&#39;t forget Adam and his story!&quot; Leeson wrote. &quot;Remember every time you go to a pool. Watch your own kids, and also signs of drowning from others as well. Learn CPR. If Adam can save some lives by teaching others my mistakes, all he&#39;s been through will be worth it!&quot;

The story has a happy ending, but it&#39;s terrifying nonetheless.  Maribeth Leeson&#39;s five-year-old son Adam drowned in a busy pool, surrounded by adults. He was saved with CPR and hospitalized soon after, and Leeson told her story in...