A five-year-old Texas boy has tragically been pronounced 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 the hospital as medics battled to save his life.
The child, who had autism, was pronounced brain dead on March 14, as his stricken mother Christie Lyons said it was ‘really hard to lose our baby.’
She urged parents with autistic children to teach them water safety, as his fear of water led them to never teach him to swim.
‘We never really introduced him to that, and we regret it,’ she told KENS5.
Jeremiah Turner, 5, (pictured with his mom Christie Lyons) was tragically pronounced brain dead after falling into a neighbor’s pool earlier this month
Jeremiah’s stricken 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 her neighbors ‘didn’t have their pool locked’, which was out of the ordinary.
‘For years it was locked. For years the fences were up, so we had no worries in our mind that he would ever find that,’ she said.
‘He was autistic and he loved to play. He loved to explore everywhere,’ the heartbroken mother continued, as she referred to her son as her ‘golden boy.’
‘He was always jumping and running in circles and yelling. He was really beautiful. He lit up the world. He touched many people.’
She said the boy’s family lost sight of him for several minutes, and he was found in the pool by his grandmother.
His father, Andrew Turner, then ‘ran over there and pulled him from the water’, Lyons said, leading to a frantic two-hour effort to revive the five-year-old.
‘We took him to the hospital, got his heartbeat back. They lost it. They got it back again,’ Lyons said.
‘They had no hope in Jeremiah. We believe in God. We’re very faithful and we said, ‘Jeremiah’s got this. He’s a strong little boy.’
‘He became brain-dead. It was really hard to lose our baby.’
In a tragic Facebook post the day after receiving the news, Jeremiah’s mother said her son ‘will forever hold a piece of our hearts’
Medics spent days attempting to save the five-year-old’s life in hospital
Lyons shared on social media that after receiving the news that her son was brain dead, ‘I woke up this morning & it all hit me again this isn’t a bad dream’
In a tragic Facebook post the day after receiving the news, Lyons said her son ‘will forever hold a piece of our hearts.’
‘I woke up this morning & it all hit me again this isn’t a bad dream this is what it will be for the rest of my life,’ she wrote.
‘I know my baby can speak in heaven there wont be any disabilities or judgements, I hope they greeted him clapping.
‘He will forever hold 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, from the years 2009 to 2011, accidental drowning made up 91 percent of all deaths of autistic children aged 14 and under.
‘The leading cause of death for children with autism is drowning, and for some reason the water just calls to them,’ explained water safety activist Pamela Allen to KENS5.
‘They can hear the water. They are hypersensitive. They have sensory issues, of course, but their hearing is just amazing. So when they hear water, they’re drawn to it.’
Experts said that autistic children such as Jeremiah may be drawn to water, and drowning is the most common cause of death among autistic children under 14
Lyons urged other parents with autistic children to teach them basic water safety from a young age.
She said they took Jeremiah to the beach once, but he was afraid of the water, and was ‘scared of everything.’
‘We never wanted to take him to the swimming pool. We never really introduced him to that and we regret it,’ added the grieving mother, as she said pool owners need to be responsible for properly locking their pools.
‘You don’t know you your neighbor is. You don’t know if it’s a little boy like Jeremiah,’ she said.
Lyons has set up a GoFundMe to help pay for the funeral costs.