When Colin found himself in the water alone while wearing winter clothes, he knew what to do. His mom bravely shared their story to raise awareness and keep other families whole.
On the first of January, 2007, my husband and I witnessed the true value ISR, and the training our son received from Emma G. That morning, my husband, our son, and I were walking our golden retriever puppy into the small town where we currently live in North Carolina. We decided to stop by my father-in-law’s home, which happens to have a pond at the bottom of a hill near the house. We watched as our 2 year old ran gleefully down the hill with our 4 month old puppy. He had been around the deep pond many times before, and had always used extreme caution. This time, however, the playful puppy tugged at his pants leg as he ran towards the pond, which caused him to trip. Due to his running speed, he landed in the pond, approximately 5 feet from the edge, and disappeared below the surface. The muddy water was at a temperature near freezing and as we raced to the water’s edge, only a circle of waves indicated where he might be.
The pond is one that was manmade, in that it was dug out several years ago. The bottom is comprised of clay and silt, so my husband’s first steps were bogged down, much like quicksand. Even though Colin was not far from him, it took much longer than usual to reach him since my husband sank up to his thighs in the pond’s bottom which brought the water level up to his neck. The adhesion of the mud around his legs made it impossible to lift them. He was stuck. Just then, Colin’s head broke above the water’s surface. With a gasp of air, he began to float on his back, followed by his Swim-Float-Swim techniques. The best my husband could do was to lean toward where Colin was floating, grasp him and lift him over his head and hand him to me. How precisely he ended up so far into the middle of the pond is a mystery to us.
Despite the many months that he had not practiced his training, he confidently displayed all of the ISR techniques that he had learned from Emma, while we were living in Florida. While we attended to getting Colin warm and into dry clothes, he never displayed any signs of fear. Surprisingly, he spoke of the incident with terrific confidence and assuredness. His only concern was that there were no frogs, and that he could not find “his wall”. Of course, his lessons had trained him to make his way to the edge, and then grasp the pool’s wall. Fortunately, he knew what to do in the event there was no wall, and utilized the floating and survival methods taught to him.
Throughout Colin’s training with Emma, I think that my husband and I felt that we were safeguarding him from the unfortunate occurrence of falling into someone’s swimming pool. Little did we suspect or anticipate conditions far more treacherous. We were amazed that Colin maintained the presence of mind in spite of the sudden surprise, the muddy water that offered absolutely no visibility, and in freezing temperatures.
We then realized that Emma had taught Colin more than the essential techniques for survival, she had also bestowed and inspired a confidence in his abilities. My husband and I noticed that throughout the day that followed, as Colin went about his playing, he did so with an uncanny air of confidence. Clearly, he was very proud of his abilities. We are all forever indebted to Emma and ISR for saving Colin’s life.
Very grateful,
Leslie, Knight and Colin
