Boy Leaves Pool, Walks Home and Dies of Dry Drowning

A 10 year-old in South Carolina died of dry drowning after leaving a swimming pool and returning home for sleep.

In pools across America kids are playing and dunking each other, but one thing they might not be aware of is dry drowning which is rarely spoken about. Specialists call it secondary drowning or dry drowning in which water gets into the lungs and the laryngospasm reflex essentially causes asphyxiation and neurogenic pulmonary edema.

One mother, Cassandra Jackson, has experienced such an incident on Sunday in South Carolina in which her 10 year-old son, Johnny Jackson, who went swimming at a local pool died from dry drowning.

“I’ve never known a child could walk around, talk, speak and their lungs be filled with water,” she told NBC News TODAY.

Johnny didn’t show any respiratory distress signs only that he had an accident and soiled himself in the pool. The young boy, his mother and sister then walked home after spending time at the pool. When they arrived home she gave Johnny a bath and he told her he felt sleepy. When she went to check on Johnny she reportedly saw his face was covered in a “spongy white material”. He was then rushed to the hospital, but it was a little too late.

What many don’t know is that dry drowning can occur from being ill or by accident and not specifically just from swimming.

Parents are being asked to look out for tiredness after swimming, difficulty breathing, and change in behavior (soiling accident) and to take their child to the emergency room just to get checked if any of these signs occur, especially if they have been swimming.