Clearwater, Florida  33767
Phone (727) 445-XXXX
Fax (727) 447-XXXX
 

On Saturday May 1, 1999, my family and I were having a normal weekend, until 7:15 P.M.

My wife Dawn, Olivia our 2 year old and Claudia, age 1, were sitting in our family room watching television.  I was giving Claudia a bottle and Dawn was in the kitchen mixing baby formula.  All of a sudden I heard Dawn scream, a scream I have never heard before in my entire life and she called out Olivia's name.  My first thought was that Olivia had fallen down and scraped her knee, but then I heard a loud splash in our pool and  thought, " oh my gosh, Olivia was in the pool!"   I ran out the door and Dawn handed her to me.  The loud splash that I had heard was dawn jumping into the pool after Olivia.  Our child was purple from head to toe, her body was limp, and her stomach was swollen.  Dawn was in shock, I told her to call 911.  I started running back and forth with my little girl over my shoulder and then began giving her mouth-to-mouth.  She did not respond.  We did not know exactly how long she was in the pool, the window was between 7:00 and 7:15.  The neighbors heard the screaming and jumped our fence; they took over the CPR and ran for a Urologist, who lives across the street.  He was home and came running, and I could already hear the sirens.  The ambulance got to our house and the paramedics took over.  They called for a helicopter and Olivia was taken to the helicopter and we were instructed to drive to the hospital, approximately 45 minutes away.  We prayed and cried all the way.

Upon our arrival, a Chaplain met us at the door and took us into a "quiet room", I expected the worse.  We had to sit for 30 minutes waiting for the doctor.  He came and told us that Olivia appeared to be stable on route but then slipped away into a coma and the ventilator was installed.  My whole inner being just weakened.  I asked if she was alive, he said yes, but that is all he knew.

We were allowed to go see her; I cannot describe the feelings of looking at this precious little girl laying in the bed, with wires and machines hooked up all over her.

She was taken into intensive care and one hour later the doctor spoke to us again, we were informed that her lungs were full of water and he had no idea about her brain, kidneys or liver.  All we could do was wait.  He explained all the complications that were likely.

For the next 8 hours I stood at her side, one hand on her little head and the other on a bible.  I prayed till morning, I knew it was in our Father’s hands, and I told God that while he could give her a better home than I could, we needed her so much.

Two days later she was taken off the ventilator and the following day came home.  Praise God is all we could say, it was a miracle.  I thank him every day for saving our little girl.

A few weeks before this horrible accident, a friend was visiting us and expressed concern over our swimming pool, we said to each other, lets look into something for the pool, but we procrastinated.

We now are going to family counseling for Olivia as she does not appear to remember the near drowning, but has nightmares every night.  She relives it in her sleep, gasping for air, thrashing her arms and legs and finally waking into a cry.  Last night it ended with her throwing up.

We have now installed an Aqua-Safe Pool Safety Net over our pool.  I feel like a terrible father for not having had my family swimming pool protected.  My heart bleeds for the people that are not as fortunate as we were.  I have read that in the last two weeks, two children Olivia’s age have died in our city, in the same hospital as Olivia was taken.  As I mentioned earlier, a Doctor and his wife came to help.  A few days later, I was informed that 12 years ago, their 10-month-old grandson drowned in their back yard in their hot tub.

One of the horrible images that I can not get out of my head is the fact that I was sitting eight feet from our pool, giving the baby a bottle when this was all happening to Olivia, just eight feet away, my precious little girl was fighting for her life and finally gave in.  My back was facing the pool with a sliding glass door separating me from her.  I will never forget my wife's scream, after our family dog alerted her to Olivia, and then the image of Olivia as I took her into my arms.

Please please please, if you are reading this on the Internet, Olivia is the child on the home page, please protect your pool, as long as I live I will pray that you never have to experience what we went through.

God Bless
 

Jeff Dahlman and family