WOODWAY, TEXAS — After 33 years, one Central Texas mother still remembers every minute of her daughter’s near-drowning.
In the summer of 1986, Lorrie Dicorte took her 3-year-old daugher Kacey out of the pool so she could blow her nose. When Dicorte couldn’t find tissues by the pool, she took Kacey to the garage nearby to get a paper towl.
Dicorte said she took an eye off her young daughter for a split second, and that’s where the trouble started.
"I turned so she could blow her nose, and I said ‘Where are you?’ and I turned back over here and I run,” Dicorte recounts. “There she was at the bottom of the pool just looking up, looking scared, and thank God I had taught her to hold her breath because had she not been taught to hold her breath she would have ingested water.”
Fortunately, Kacey was not hurt, but Dicorte said she shudders even thinking about the event nearly 33 years later.
To this day, Dicorte continues to be vocal on the importance of children's safety near pools.
"We have to teach our kids as much as we can. When an adult is not present outside and they get outside, we have to teach them you can’t get in the pool without the adult,” Dicorte said.
The National Safety Council recommends finding age-appropriate swim lessons for your child. Don’t let children play around drains and suction fittings and always have a first aid kit and emergency contacts handy. The NSC also suggests getting CPR training, and if a child is missing, check the water first.
