Memphis native aims to raise awareness after son drowns
TUESDAY, JULY 24, 2018
Memphis native Nicole Hughes and her family had taken the same summer trip six times before.
The University of Tennessee alum and Bristol, Tennessee, resident stays with her husband and children in a beach house in Fort Morgan, Alabama, the same week in June every year, vacationing with a group of friends. This year there were six families, totaling 17 kids and 12 adults.
The vacation was a special moment each year for the family of five, including 9-year-old Lily, 5-year-old Reese and 3-year-old Levi.
But this trip took an unexpected, tragic turn, changing the lives of Hughes and her family forever, and sending her on a quest to educate others about what she wished she’d known.
That awful day, June 10
Levi had been wearing his life jacket all day on June 10.
It’s one of the first things Hughes points out.
“We were swimming, and the whole day we were swimming, he was wearing a life jacket or a puddle jumper, literally the entire time, the whole time,” Hughes said. “Flying a kite, he was wearing his life jacket. He’s eating bananas, he’s wearing his life jacket.”
After their day of vacationing, the family had gone inside the house to take baths, eat dinner and get ready to go crab hunting with the other families, who were hanging out in the living room.
Levi wore a yellow crab hunting shirt as he watched television while finishing his dinner.
“I actually had a brownie,” Hughes said. “It was a small brownie, and I broke it in half. I put one half in his bowl and I ate the other half.”
Hughes turned away for a moment to do something she can’t remember now. She then decided she would get her kids ready for their upcoming crab hunting session, but first walked out to the balcony overlooking the pool.
“I always just double-checked the pools,” Hughes said. “I don’t know, it was just that instinct with small kids.” She screamed. “I looked, and (Levi) was in it, facedown, in the deep end,” Hughes said.
Hughes banged on the window and screamed before running out of the house along with the other families. One of the friends jumped over the balcony and into the water in an attempt to save Levi.
Hughes and the friend reached Levi at the same time and flipped him over, attempting to intubate him and giving him epinephrine. They knew what to do, as Hughes’ husband, Jonathan, and a number of their friends are physicians.
The doctors worked tirelessly over Levi, trying to save the little boy.
The questions, the struggle
After CPR, they called an ambulance for Levi. They had a faint pulse.
Levi was airlifted to a children’s hospital in Mobile, Alabama, but the realization that he wasn’t going to make it eventually sunk in. The damage had already been done.
“It (happened) about 6:30 Sunday night, and then he actually passed away around 4 a.m. Monday morning,” Hughes said.
She still isn’t sure exactly how Levi ended up in the pool that day. She suspects he had sneaked out of the house’s heavy door, entered the pool area and fell in.
One takeaway from her son’s drowning that has stuck in Hughes’ mind is that even several physicians were unable to save her son.
Her daughters, too, are struggling with Levi’s death. Although Hughes praised their resiliency, Reese is unable to sleep in her bed because Levi used to sleep with her there.
Levi’s Legacy
Almost immediately after Levi’s death, Hughes began researching child drownings. She can now rattle off statistics as if they’re written on the back of her hand.
“The more I started researching drowning, the more I realized that it happens so often.”
As she dug into her research, she realized that child drownings often happen during non-designated swimming times, moments when families are in the vicinity of water but aren’t actually looking to swim, such as hanging out in a house that has a pool.
“If kids have access to water, then it’s not good,” Hughes said. “They can sneak away.”
She wonders why the issue isn’t discussed more often.
Hughes decided parents need a tangible reminder of the importance of designated supervision to prevent child drownings.
“The reality is the only thing that really matters, that really truly works, is supervision. It has to be very intentional, purposeful supervision,” Hughes said.
Her solution?
‘The water guardian’
Hughes created Levi’s Legacy, a movement she hopes will become a fullfledged nonprofit soon. The idea behind it is to sell waterproof lanyards designating the wearer as the “water guardian.”
While wearing the lanyard, the “water guardian” takes on the responsibility of monitoring children when in an area near water, not letting distractions get in the way. Hughes hopes the measure will help protect children while also reminding people of the frequency of child drownings.
“My vision is to have them in beach and lake houses because people just aren’t aware drowning also happens when you’re running inside to grab a beach towel or when you are running inside to start dinner or you’re unloading the car,” Hughes said.
Hughes is not looking to make any money from the lanyards, as any profit goes back into making more of them. They have even been endorsed by the American Lifeguard Association, she said.
“I don’t actually make any money off of it,” Hughes said. “It’s literally just the price of the tag, the lanyard and shipping.”
Staying connected, family support
Born in Memphis and residing there until age 22, Hughes and her husband, Jonathan, are both alumni of UT, Knoxville. That’s where they met, while she was majoring in education and he was studying to become a doctor.
They were married in 2004 and have been together for 14 years. The family lives in Bristol, where Jonathan works at Bristol Regional. Hughes is a literacy coach at St. Anne’s Catholic School.
The two have stayed connected with Knoxville and the university since they graduated, regularly attending UT sporting events and frequenting the city whenever possible.
Hughes’ twin sister is a curriculum principal at the new Hardin Valley Middle School, and both her parents live in Knoxville. Hughes did her student teaching at Knoxville’s West High School.
“We’re still heavily involved in the Knoxville community,” Hughes said.
That support system will be key for Hughes and her family as they work at healing and to expand Levi’s Legacy. She’s not opposed to creating a UT-orange lanyard, either.
But for now, Hughes is focused on the short term. She wants to focus on telling her story, Levi’s story.
“My plan is to continue this, to continue selling lanyards,” Hughes said. “There’s going to be small children every year, forever . ... I’m so angry that I did not know that drowning actually happens more often when not swimming.”