Even Superman Has A Hero

I watched the news this morning and I have two new heroes. One is named Cody Runyon. He is a 13-year-old boy that sprang into action when he saw his 12-year-old friend, Evan, drowning in the deep end of the community pool. Cody saw the lifeless body of his buddy and immediately dove in to save him. Cody stands 4ā€™11ā€ and weighs only 80 lbs.

When he got Evan to the bank, one of the neighborhood mothers did something that required superhuman strength. Desiree Pasko, who suffers from fibromyalgia, often requires a walker and wheelchair to get around, but she apparently was filled with adrenalin as well and leapt to her feet and performed CPR on the small boy who had already turned blue.

Within a few minutes, he coughed and came back to life. What could have been a terrible tragedy was averted by a fearless friend and a brave lady who ignored her own health issues to help him.

Every year it seems that we hear the same horror stories of people drowning in pools, lakes and in the ocean. It is estimated that there are around 3,536 unintentional drownings every year that are non-boat related. Add another 332 boating victims and the number is approaching 4,000. That is about 10 deaths per day, with one out of five being age 14 or under.

The sad part of this is it is totally preventable. Kids should never be unsupervised at a pool, lake, or beach. Most of the kids who died were swimming where there was no lifeguard or parent actively monitoring the situation. If they are not good swimmers, they should have lessons and wear appropriate floating gear until they know how to swim. Even then, they need a lifeguard.

I hope that parents reading this will take the necessary steps to safeguard themselves and their family when enjoying the water this summer. It can be a great summer on the water if we just use some common sense.

Shalom!

Dan Skognes

 

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