A five-year-old Texas boy was tragically declared brain dead after falling into a neighbor’s backyard pool.
Jeremiah Turner was discovered by his heartbroken family on March 10 and spent days in hospital as doctors fought to save his life.
The boy, who had autism, was declared brain dead on March 14, while his affected mother, Christie Lyons, said it was “really difficult to lose our baby.”
He urged parents with autistic children to teach them water safety, as their fear of water led them to never teach them to swim.
“We never presented that to you and we regret it,” he said. KENS5.
5-year-old Jeremiah Turner (pictured with his mother Christie Lyons) tragically suffered brain death after falling into a neighbor’s pool earlier this month.
Jeremiah’s grieving mother urged other parents of autistic children to teach them basic water safety, and not teaching her son to swim is something she regrets.
Jeremiah was playing in his grandmother’s yard when the tragedy occurred, and Lyons said his neighbors “didn’t have their pool closed,” which was out of the ordinary.
‘For years it was closed. For years, the fences were up, so we didn’t have any concerns that he would ever find it,” he said.
‘He was autistic and loved to play. She loved to explore everywhere,” the heartbroken mother continued, as she referred to her son as her “golden child.”
‘He was always jumping and running in circles and screaming. He was really beautiful. He lit up the world. He touched a lot of people.’
She said the boy’s family lost sight of him for several minutes and his grandmother found him in the pool.
His father, Andrew Turner, “ran over there and pulled him out of the water,” Lyons said, leading to a frantic two-hour effort to revive the 5-year-old.
“We took him to the hospital and got his heart beating back. They lost it. They got it back again,” Lyons said.
‘They had no hope in Jeremiah. We believe in God. We are very faithful and we said: ‘Jeremiah has this.’ He is a strong boy.
“He suffered brain death. It was very hard to lose our baby.’
In a tragic Facebook post the day after receiving the news, Jeremiah’s mother said her son will “always have a piece of our hearts.”
Doctors spent days trying to save the five-year-old boy’s life in the hospital.
Lyons shared on social media that after receiving the news that her son was brain dead, “I woke up this morning and it all hit me again, not a bad dream.”
In a tragic Facebook post the day after receiving the news, Lyons said her son “will always have a piece of our hearts.”
“I woke up this morning and it all hit me again. It’s not a bad dream, it’s what it will be for the rest of my life,” he wrote.
‘I know my baby can talk in heaven there will be no disabilities or judgments, I hope you greet him with applause.
“He will always have a piece of our hearts, he was loved by an army, my little golden boy touched everyone he met.”
According to the National Autism Association, between 2009 and 2011, accidental drowning accounted for 91 percent of all deaths among autistic children ages 14 and younger.
“The leading cause of death for children with autism is drowning, and for some reason the water just calls to them,” water safety activist Pamela Allen told KENS5.
‘They can hear the water. They are hypersensitive. They have sensory issues, of course, but their hearing is simply amazing. That’s why when they hear water, they are attracted to it.’
Experts said autistic children like Jeremiah can be attracted to water and that drowning is the most common cause of death among autistic children under 14 years old.
Lyons urged other parents with autistic children to teach them basic water safety from a young age.
She said they once took Jeremiah to the beach, but he was afraid of the water and “was afraid of everything.”
“We never wanted to take him to the pool. We never really presented that to you and we’re sorry,” the grieving mother added, saying pool owners should be responsible for properly closing their pools.
‘You don’t know who your neighbor is. You don’t know if he’s a little kid like Jeremiah,” he said.
Lyon has created a GoFundMe to help pay for funeral costs.