Hidden dangers of "secondary drowning"
MILWAUKEE- Five-year-old Ethan Sadowski is like a fish in the water, but that wasn’t the case a year ago.
10.0pt;font-family:\"Microsoft Sans Serif\",\"sans-serif\"\">\"He jumped in the pool, and no sooner than when he jumped in the pool, he sank right to the bottom,\" Ethan’s mom Jessica Sadowski said.
10.0pt;font-family:\"Microsoft Sans Serif\",\"sans-serif\"\">That day Ethan nearly drowned, his mom Jessica Sadowski, a critical care nurse, panicked.
10.0pt;font-family:\"Microsoft Sans Serif\",\"sans-serif\"\">\"He was scared too, you could see he was visibly shaken, luckily they were able to get him right out.\"
10.0pt;font-family:\"Microsoft Sans Serif\",\"sans-serif\"\">The tot was okay, but that split second accident could have taken a different course, one that few parents know about. It’s called secondary drowning. Swimtastic swim instructor Kam O’dell was unfamiliar with the dangerous occurrence until recently.
10.0pt;font-family:\"Microsoft Sans Serif\",\"sans-serif\"\">\"They start having chest pains, there behavior changes a little bit, they maybe get fatigued,\" O’Dell said.
Minutes, even hours after a person has a drowning close call, they’re still at risk of succumbing to the water. Fluid may have unknowingly filled their lungs. Sadowski has dealt with the situation as a nurse
10.0pt;font-family:\"Microsoft Sans Serif\",\"sans-serif\"\">\"It literally masks a drowning situation, and patients can't breathe, and edema, the tissues swell, the cells swell, and so then the patients don't get oxygen properly and it's almost like a suffocating, drowning effect.\"
10.0pt;font-family:\"Microsoft Sans Serif\",\"sans-serif\"\">It can lead to extreme medical intervention, like a ventilator. In worst case scenarios, it can lead to death.
Doctors warn parents not to wait if their child is experiencing any symptoms, immediately take them to the doctor.
Children can also begin swim lessons as young as 6-months-old at Swimtastic Swim School to prevent drowning altogether.
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