The drowning of two children in a Philadelphia mother’s swimming pool over Memorial Day weekend highlights the dangers of holding your breath while playing underwater, even for kids who are normally strong swimmers.
Earlier last month, Brittney McWhite made the decision to take her daughters, 14-year-old Wadell and 11-year-old London Marie, off life support.
A week ago, things were going well at home for McWhite, as she and her six children visited her aunt’s house in New Jersey and enjoyed a Memorial Day barbecue. Fox 29 reported.
“When we got there, I said, ‘OK, I’ll help you prepare the food,’ and the kids were playing in the pool. They were playing a game like Marco Polo where you hold your breath and dive,” McWhite told Fox News Digital.
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London Marie, 11, and Wadale, 14, died on June 2 after their mother decided to take them off life support. Both could swim, but drowned while holding their breath and performing Marco Polo over Memorial Day weekend. (Fox 29 Philadelphia)
After three or four minutes, McWhite realised he could no longer see any children swimming.
Family members jumped into the pool to rescue the two children, and “after they came out, everyone worked together to rescue them,” he said.
“I’m CPR certified, but when that happens to your child, you go into shock, everything’s in shock and you’re not able to do what you should be able to do,” McWhite said.
According to Fox 29 Philadelphia, Monroe Township Police received a call at 6:46 p.m. reporting two children had drowned.
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Brittney McWhite, pictured here with her daughter London Marie, 9, has been speaking out about pool safety following the tragic incident. (Britney McWhite)
London Murray and Wadale had been on life support at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital for a week, and their mother said that from the moment they were admitted, neither showed signs of brain activity and suffered regular seizures.
There was a small glimmer of hope when both children began breathing on their own, but ultimately “the only thing keeping them alive was the machines,” she said.
“Keep your kids close and tell them you love them while they’re here because if something happens, all you’ll be left with are memories,” Brittney McWhite told Fox News Digital. (Fox 29 Philadelphia)
“Keep your kids close and tell them you love them while they’re here. If something happens, all you’re left with are memories,” McWhite told Fox News Digital. “It’s awful. The memories never come back. It’s hard, but you have other kids, you still have family. You don’t have time to grieve.”
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Brittney McWhite told Fox News Digital that the surviving children no longer swim in the water. (Britney McWhite)
McWhite said she and her children will be extra careful in the water in the future.
“I’ll always be there, I’ll have life jackets, floaties, anything they need,” McWhite said.
“My advice to parents is [their] “Make sure your kids don’t hold their breath when they go underwater,” she said. “If your kids are going underwater, make sure you keep an eye on them at all times, even if they know how to swim. [doesn’t mean] Freak accident [can’t] happen.”
According to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “unsafe underwater breath-holding behaviors” can lead to involuntary drowning in healthy people. Swimmers can experience “hypoxic syncope” or “breath-holding syncope,” which can be fatal.
According to the Shallow Water Fainting Prevention Association, a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising awareness of these fatalities, the phenomenon occurs when a swimmer passes out due to a lack of oxygen to the brain, which can be triggered by repeatedly or holding one’s breath for too long. If not rescued immediately, the swimmer can quickly drown.
London Marie, pictured here, and her brother Wadale were on life support for a week before passing away on June 2. (Britney McWhite)
The organization was founded by the mother of a young man who died in his family’s swimming pool during a breath-holding exercise and is backed by Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps.
Additionally, lifeguards and other caregivers may mistake a child drowning at the bottom of a pool for a child playing and holding their breath.
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“This is the new ‘no diving,'” lifeguard Jeff Little said. He told WRAL The no-breath-holding signs at the YMCA where he works remind him of the signs around pool decks that warn against diving into the shallow end of the pool to prevent spinal cord injuries.
