Shannon Clay, a mother in Henrico, is grieving the loss of her toddler, who passed away the day after her wedding. Two-year-old Cameron “Cam” Massie drowned in a pool in the backyard where his mother got married.
Clay told WTVR that when she was cleaning up after the event, her kid was playing in the yard with little relatives.
According to Clay, she left Cameron and another family member to go inside and bid their uncles farewell. According to her, they were having fun beneath the tent where the wedding celebration was held.
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However, she claimed that Cameron entered the gate and drowned in the pool in a matter of seconds. According to WWBT, the pool had a gate and a safety fence surrounding it, so Cameron must have been small enough to slip through the fence.
As Clay was still inside saying goodbye to her relatives, one of Cameron’s uncles said, “Oh, my God, the baby is in the water.” Clay added that she then raced out and attempted CPR on her kid to rescue him before police arrived and started life-saving procedures.
When police arrived at the residence in the 8300 block of Bowers Lane at 1:49 p.m. on Sunday, they discovered the youngster unconscious.
After officers attempted to save Cameron’s life, Henrico Fire transported him to a neighboring hospital, where he was declared dead.
Police said there are no signs of foul play, and detectives will continue to examine his death.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimate that 4,000 fatal unintentional drownings occur each year in the United States, or 11 drowning deaths per day.
The most common cause of mortality for children aged 1 to 4 is drowning, and among children aged 5 to 14, it is the second most common cause of death from unintentional injuries, after car crashes.
In an interview with CNN in May, Dr. Leana Wen, an emergency physician and adjunct associate professor at George Washington University, stated, “Racial disparities were also reported in a 2023 analysis from the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), which found that African American children made up 21% of all drownings for kids younger than age 15 in which race and ethnicity are known. Among kids ages 5 to 14, 45% of drowning deaths occurred among African Americans.”
Dr. Wen, a mother of two, previously served as Baltimore’s health commissioner.
She added that per the CPSC analysis, “The vast majority (80%) of pediatric drownings in which the setting is known occurred at a residence. This means that 4 in 5 kids who drowned died in their own backyard pool or that of a friend, neighbor, or family member. Of these residential drownings, 91% occurred among kids younger than 7 years old.”
Meanwhile, the grieving mother, Clay, advised other parents to “look after your kids. Don’t let them out of your sight even for a split second.”
Clay said of his son, “We all love him. He was the sunshine of our life.”
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