Kate Abbott, a nurse from Lumberton, contacted Bladen Online to share words of appreciation and tips for water safety after her two-year-old son, Carter, survived a near-drowning experience in Bladenboro.
The experience Abbott put into words, began at a family friend’s house with an above ground pool. After the small crowd enjoyed some time in the pool, they all got out and made their way inside. Abbott said, “We were having a good time with a family get together. Then something told me, “Hey, you need to lay eyes on your son.”
She explained walking inside the house and then outside and having friends and family look for the missing toddler.
She said, “Then I heard a child’s voice yell out, He’s in the pool!”, and I took off running and yelled, “Call 911!”
According to Abbott, one of the children grabbed Carter’s lifeless body from the pool and handed him to his mother. She said, “When he came out of that pool, he was dead. He was gray; he was blue; he was lifeless.”
She began CPR on her child. After some compressions, he coughed and started breathing a little. EMS arrived within eight minutes of the call.
“I think that is an excellent response time, and I want to sing their praises for being on their toes,” Abbott stated.
Carter was transported to Southeastern Regional Medical Center but was then transported to Cape Fear Valley by Life Flight for their Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (ICU). He was intubated for 16 hours.
“I knew that he was living, but I thought that he might be totally dependent… a vegetable for the rest of his life,” Abbott said.
However, after a day in ICU and a clear CT scan, Carter was released to go home with no signs of the traumatic near-drowning experience.
Abbott said, “He was dead when he was pulled out of the pool. He is now at home and is almost 100% back to himself. It is nothing short of a miracle, and I want to share our story with the world.”
She continued, “I don’t like the attention of this because I’m actually kind of embarrassed by it, but I wanted to update the community because I know a lot of people in Bladen County and Robeson County have been praying for him and I wanted everybody to know how he is doing.”
Amelia Batten and the other EMS team members did a wonderful job helping Carter, according to Abbott.
She also listed many others involved in Carter’s rescue and gave credit to God for her son’s survival without any lasting medical impacts.
Abbott wanted to list others involved in the rescue as heroes, but after Bladen Online staff reached out to those involved, they agreed it was a miracle, but did not want to be acknowledged for any of their acts
during the traumatic experience.
In closing, Abbott said she wanted to use this experience to bring awareness to water safety. Following are the tips for water safety Abbott gave to help prevent drownings.
1. Abbott started the list of tips by saying teach each child they are not allowed to be around bodies of water without an adult supervising.
2. Enroll children in swimming classes as soon as they are able to follow directions. She said, “You can even start teaching them yourself while they are in the bathtub.”
3. Float devices are a false sense of security, according to Abbott. She said to teach them even with a floating device; they may still go underwater.
4. CPR is vital to surviving a near-drowning. Abbott added some people are scared to perform CPR, but even administering chest compressions could prove to be life-saving. Parents should take a CPR safety course.
5. The last tip Abbott gave was, anyone with a pool should check latches and fencing to ensure children cannot enter the areas.
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