I never heard of secondary drowning before today. But apparently a 10 year old boy named Johnny Jackson, from South Carolina died last weekend after he swallowed water from a swimming pool. He didn’t die right away though, he died several hours after he swallowed the water.
According to FoxNews, police said that Johnny Jackson was from Goose Creek and had been swimming Sunday in a pool from his apartment complex and swallowed some water. His mother saw that Johnny Jackson inhaled a lot of water, like most of us have done at some point in life. But after getting out of the pool, she said the child seemed all right. His mother probably never heard of secondary drowning either.
Later that day Johnny Jackson went to take a nap in his room because he was feeling sleepy. When someone went to check on him, Johnny Jackson had water coming out of his nose and was having difficulty breathing.
Johnny Jackson’s mother called 911 and the boy was transported to Trident Hospital. Doctors tried to save Johnny Jackson, but he died of asphyxiation - secondary drowning.
Glenn Rhoad, the Berkeley County Coroner, said that Johnny Jackson’s lungs had filled with water, causing him to choke or drown. Johnny Jackson was in fourth grade at Westview Elementary School.
According to FoxNews, not all cases of drowning happen immediately. There is secondary drowning as well, which can happen as much as 72 hours later, without any signs. There was no way that his family could have known what was happening to Johnny Jackson or do anything to save him from secondary drowning other than what they did.
Secondary drowning is something I am certainly going to pay more attention to with my own kids now that I learned about this case of secondary drowning. Rest in Peace Johnny Jackson.
