We run literally thousands of posts on Mamamia over a 12 month period and we’ve collated the most popular 20 of 2014 to count down as we bring in the new year. This post was number four…
Spending hours in the pool in the hot summer is a rite of passage for every Australian kid…my two brothers and I included. Sadly it is this simple pastime which claimed the life of my youngest brother.
It was a scene I’ll never forget. I was 16 when my mum picked me up after my shift at McDonalds. I returned home to find my 12 year-old brother Nic’s lifeless body, lying beside the pool.
Nic Fisher drowned at the age of 12.My dad and my aunty were performing CPR on Nic while my brother, Josh, and four younger cousins watched on with a look of sheer terror on their faces. I remember standing at the end of our street for what like seemed like an eternity, waiting for the ambulance to arrive.
It was just three days after Christmas.
Our family was passionate about any activity that involved water. But on that day in December, we found out how deadly our iconic Australian lifestyle could be – particularly for daring and competitive young kids and teens like us.
On that sunny summer day, Nic and our cousins were playing a game of seeing who could hold their breath the longest, with two adults supervising in the pool yard.
Carly with Noah Nicholas.It was this simple game – familiar to every Australian kid – that took Nic’s life so swiftly and silently.
Shallow water blackout (SWB) is caused by competitive or continuous breath holding or by taking several deep breaths before diving under water. Swimmers pass out due to lack of oxygen and the delayed trigger to breathe means that water quickly fills the lungs. When this happens, death or brain damage occurs much quicker than the usual form of drowning.
This is how my little brother, a competent swimmer, waterskiier and healthy young kid, being supervised by two adults, was able to drown so quickly.
Top Comments
Damn... I used to hyperventilate all the time so I could stay underwater longer. I had no idea this could happen.
I think that perhaps stopping games ( and we've banned so many for our cotton wool kids) is not so much the answer as education. Teach kids to practise holding their breath for extended periods before letting them play this sort of game; after all, we don't let them drive until they have pass their licence test. In this generation of over refereed kids, I tried to let my kids do things without necessarily being at their sides all of the time, if they didn't get something right under supervision, I just waited a bit longer before I let them try again. They are now resourceful young adults, who give a fair bit of thought to things before they do them, even though one of them is a circus performer and is required to perform some pretty scary stunts at times. Good training, not forbidden fun, please.