It was a normal summer day for the McRae family that started with a family visit to the Estrada Park in Tempe during the morning and a swim at home during the afternoon.
For Stacey McRae of Tempe, the night was anything but normal.
She received word something was wrong at her home while she and her husband, John, went out for a dinner date at a Ahwatukee restaurant.
John received a cell phone alert from home security cameras that showed fire trucks in the couple’s driveway after Stacey received a missed call from her neighbor moments before.
That night, Odin, 2, and his twin brother, Cole, found themselves in the family pool after their parents left for dinner.
Eventually, Cole managed to climb out of the pool and make his way into the house to wake up his grandmother — who was babysitting the toddlers and happened to fall asleep. “(Cole) told her Odin was sleeping in the pool,” Stacey McRae said.
Stacey’s mother rushed the boy to a neighbor’s house where a doctor lived. The doctor performed CPR on Odin — but was unable to find a pulse, Stacey McRae said.
Odin was pronounced dead at the hospital.
The tragedy faced by the McRaes isn’t unique in the Valley, despite continued efforts by many to warn of the dangers involving children, and even adults, around water.
On May 26, there were reports of a near drowning of a toddler at a Tempe apartment complex near Kyrene Road and Southern Avenue.
Drowning is the leading cause of injury-related death among children ages 1 to 4, according to Safe Kids Worldwide, a nonprofit organization that helps families keep kids safe from injuries.
Locally, there have been 16 fatalities — six children — in 2023 from water-related incidents in Pinal and Maricopa counties as of May 28, according to the Drowning Prevention Coalition of Arizona.
Ashley Ackerman of San Tan Valley is another Valley mother who experienced tragedy.
Ackerman described her son, Braxton, 4, as a determined, energetic boy who picked up on things quickly. He loved baseball, Captain America and Spider-Man.
Last March, Ackerman said she realized something was wrong when Braxton didn’t respond to her calls during a day off with her husband.
It was just after lunch and the house was too quiet for the second day of spring break — especially since Braxton was the youngest of six kids.
“You start to get a lot concerned,” Ackerman said.
She instinctively ran to the backyard pool and found her son unresponsive. She started CPR, but it was too late. At the hospital, she was told her son didn’t survive.
Apparently, the boy had gained access to the pool through an opening in the pool’s fence, she said.
“The cameras never went off, the dogs didn’t bark,” Ackerman said.
The boy took swim lessons — but the sessions weren’t survival-based, she said.
Serving reminders
Former meteorologist Dave Munsey, 75, has seen drowning tragedies up close for decades.
In the early 1980s, Munsey started a drowning prevention effort after the son of his wife’s friend drowned while playing near a lake in Minnesota.
The boy’s grandmother had brought him to the lake that day, he said.
“(He was) playing on the dock,” Munsey said. “That’s the last time they saw him (alive).”
The former meteorologist said he was “very touched” and wanted to do something to help prevent local drownings.
One day, he walked to the local Phoenix fire station and befriended Steve Jensen, a fire department spokesman at the time when Munsey worked for Fox 10 Arizona.
“Man, have I been waiting for you,” Munsey said the man told him at the time. “...He had the information and I had the outlet.”
Watch your kids around water was a message that not everyone got Jensen told Munsey after a water-related incident.
“The family that lives here gets it,” Munsey said Jensen told him. “But the people next door (don’t).”
At first, the drowning prevention program wasn’t taking off, Munsey said.
He would attend parent-teacher association meetings and other events that involved parents.
Mostly, his message fell on deaf ears.
Munsey said he realized he was talking to the wrong crowd and instead started talking to children about water safety.
Then, the drowning prevention program gained momentum.
He estimates some 700,000 stickers and about 100,000 coloring books were printed up and handed out to children over the decades.
“(At first), only three fathers would talk to me,” Munsey said. “It was a macho thing. They weren’t there to protect their kids.”
Now, Munsey still attends some events hosted by the drowning prevention coalition where life jackets and messages of water safety are doled out.
Experts say all drownings can be preventable provided there are enough safeguards in place.
Pool covers, fences and constant attention to the water are all elements that can prevent drownings, experts say.
Quick thinking can help save a life around water, too.
Jacob Petersen of Mesa was 15 in August 1992 when tragedy struck. The boy — who had just received CPR training — found himself in an emergency situation where a toddler was not breathing.
Petersen had shown up to mow the lawn of the family friend. A toddler had gotten through a gate that wasn’t secured properly, gotten into the pool and wasn’t breathing when he arrived.
Petersen performed CPR on the toddler — an action that helped bring the toddler back to life.
“He started to gurgle,” Petersen said. “...(Shortly after), he threw up about a gallon of water.”
Jacob Petersen of Mesa was 15 in August 1992 when tragedy struck. The boy — who had just received CPR training — found himself in an emergency situation where a toddler was not breathing. The toddler survived.
Fox 10
Years later, Petersen, A Salt River Project employee, now 46, attended the wedding reception of Colter Conway, the once-toddler who ended up living that day.
Spreading the message
Those who lost loved ones want to spread the message that drownings can be prevented.
Ackerman started Swim 4 Braxton — a drowning prevention organization that aims to spread the message of watching kids around water.
Ackerman’s message is stark.
“Don’t think this can’t happen to you,” Ackerman said.
For McRae, the message is similar. In December, the Bee Happy 4 Odin Family Walk is planned at Kiwanis Park in Tempe. Last year, the event raised $8,000 for the drowning coalition.
She remembers her son’s bright blue eyes and his adventurous personality.
Now, she wears her son’s ashes around her neck.
“Listen to our story,” McRae said. “It is preventable.”
Brent Ruffner Lead News Reporter | Phoenix @AzNewsmedia
Brent Ruffner joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in 2021 where he writes about developments at TSMC and Maricopa County issues, including election topics.
He's written about stories that range from accusations that a Mesa monkey breeding facility is unsafe to what to do if you encounter a rattlesnake in the desert.
Community: He is a supporter of the American Cancer Society.
Education: Bachelor's degree in Journalism and Mass Communication, Arizona State University, May 2007.
Random Fact: He met former San Francisco Giants outfielder Willie Mays at a Phoenix Firebird game after winning a contest for an autographed baseball.
Hobbies: Hiking in the woods and collecting sports memorabilia.
By 
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here