‘My super fit son drowned swimming in a reservoir during heatwave – there’s one factor all mother and father ought to know’

It was a cellphone name Maxine Johnson will always remember.

Playing at a park together with her nine-year-old daughter in a heatwave 20 years in the past, the charity employee acquired a name to hurry to Pontsticill Reservoir, the place her son, Reuben Morgan, and his buddies had gotten into hassle whereas swimming within the sunshine.

On arrival, she discovered a serious emergency operation was underway with specialist search groups within the water on the magnificence spot within the Brecon Beacons, whereas a helicopter hovered within the sky overhead.

“I got told my son was missing,” she mentioned. “My heart sank, and I just hoped and prayed he would be found safe. For three days, they searched; it was torture, and then they found his body. Words can’t describe. We were heartbroken, and still to this day the pain doesn’t go away.”

Reuben, aged 15, was a match teenager who was a great swimmer, performed rugby and usually went to the fitness center.

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“That was part of the shock of it all,” she mentioned. “Reuben was super fit and someone you’d never think would get into trouble swimming.”

Such is the hazard of chilly water shock.

It later emerged that Reuben, who was sporting solely shorts and had been tenting close by after ending his GCSEs, had tried to swim throughout the reservoir together with his buddies, however three-quarters of the best way throughout, he disappeared.

Now, twenty years on, his mom is reminded of the tragedy throughout scorching climate, and when information breaks on different teenage deaths within the water.

Over the financial institution vacation weekend, when the best spring temperature ever was recorded within the UK, 4 youngsters – three boys and one woman – died in separate water-related incidents.

On Tuesday, the National Fire Chiefs Council issued a water security warning for children over swimming in rivers, lakes and reservoirs.

“I feel for their [children’s] families,” Ms Johnson mentioned. “I don’t know the exact horror they will be going through, but I know the pain, the heartbreak. That feeling of shock never leaves you. You never expect your grown-up child to drown in water.

“But now having faced it, you know the dangers of swimming in remote spots. The hidden risk of going into cold water when it feels warm outside. The debilitating impact it can have on the body. If my son had it, anyone could.”

And Ms Johnson, who has led campaigns for water security ever since her son’s loss of life, says there’s one factor mother and father can do to decrease the chance for his or her youngsters.

“Obviously, firstly talk to your children, share the dangers and find out where they are going,” she mentioned. “But I think children should also be shown the floating position for if they get into difficulty in the water. If Reuben had known it, I think he’d have been here today.”

Last 12 months, the RNLI joined forces with Ms Johnson to unfold consciousness of the lifesaving Float to Live approach, which entails an individual tilting their head again, shifting their fingers and legs and making an attempt to chill out, serving to assist them catch a breath till the chilly water shock passes.

“If children are taught swimming in school, it save many lives by sharing this technique,” Ms Johnson, who’s chief government of Age Connects Cardiff and the Vale, says.

For now, Reuben’s household are looking forward to marking 20 years since he died, on 28 June 2006, when they are going to be holding a fundraising social occasion in Merthyr Tydfil.

“I think about him every day,” Ms Johnson says. “I just don’t want his life to be in vain, I know he’d have wanted us to help others.”

For extra info on the RNLI’s Float to Live marketing campaign, click on here