Child Drowns Dry

2024 Author: Steven Freeman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 08:15

The father of a 4-year-old Hispanic boy who “drowned dry” last Saturday is struggling with all his might to understand what happened to his son, and to be able to get ahead after the tragedy that has engulfed his family. in Houston, Texas.

"We have never heard [of" dry drowning "]. He had too much water in his lungs and that's what sent him to heaven, " Frankie Delgado told People about his son, Frankie Delgado III. “I love my son so much. my son was my best friend. We played every day. Now I can no longer play with him, "he lamented.

The boy's shocking death happened almost a week after Frankie and his family had gone swimming at the Texas City Dike breakwater during Memorial Day weekend (May 28). Delgado and his son were accompanied by his wife, Tara, and their 3 daughters.

On how the tragedy happened, the father explains that at some point in the ride, the boy was in the water at a height that reached his knees, when suddenly a big wave came and knocked him over. The father believes that this was the moment when his son inhaled the water that lodged in his lungs.

The days after the walk, the boy kept waking up at night, with vomiting and diarrhea. "That he was giving back to the stomach, vomiting, there is nothing out of the ordinary in that," said the father. "We didn't think Frankie was going to die or anything like that."

The night before the boy died, he and his father stayed over at his aunt's house. There, Delgado assures, the boy began to complain of pain in one shoulder. At one point, the boy woke up suddenly.

"He just grabbed his chest and screamed. He took a deep breath and his eyes kind of fell back, then he lay [on the bed],”says the father. "So I got up and said, 'Frankie, get up!' Suddenly, he exhaled. I lifted his shirt but I couldn't see his chest move."

The boy was rushed to the East Houston Regional Medical Center where doctors explained to the family that he had remained about an hour without oxygen in the brain. Frankie passed away soon after, leaving the family in shock.

"Me and my wife are speechless. I don't want anyone to go through what I'm going through,”the troubled father told People tearfully. "I will never take my children to the beaches, [water] ponds or lakes … I cannot deal with this again."