Lessons for
She will never forget his last words to her before his fateful trip to a water-filled quarry in Whittle-lewoods, Lancashire.
He had been sleeping over at a friend’s and in a phone call asked her to wish his 11-year-old brother Stephen good luck in a football tournament.
Rebecca, of Chorley, Lancs, said: “It was just an ordinary day. I called him in the morning to tell him to come home for 11am and clean his room, which was a real mess.
“How could I have known that was the last time we’d ever speak? He just went for a little bit of fun in the sunshine and it cost him his life.”
Within days of Dylan’s death Rebecca began campaigning about the dangers of open water swimming.
She has given talks to about 3,000 pupils around the UK and believes kids must be able to swim 25 metres by secondary school.
She also thinks they should only swim where there are lifeguards and the Government ought to provide money for drowning prevention.
Rebecca is also keen to raise awareness of cold water shock which played a part in Dylan’s death.
It can trigger involuntary inhalation which, if under water, can lead to drowning and cause heart attacks.
In June last year, Natalie’s 16-yearold son Paul died in Greenbooth Reservoir in Rochdale, Greater Manchester. Rebecca reached out to her with a message on Facebook.
Natalie, 37, said: “I got a note saying ‘I truly understand how you are feeling.’ and I knew she did.
“Rebecca has been an incredible support and I just don’t know how I’d have got through without that friendship.” Natalie had begged Paul, an aspiring footballer, not to swim at the popular beauty spot.
She said: “I told him waters like that were dangerous. He didn’t listen.”
“I found out my son had died when I got text messages asking if it was true he had drowned.
“Later, I had to sit down my nineyear-old daughter Charlotte and tell her her brother was never coming home. She just broke down. No parent should ever have to do that.”
At his inquest, Paul’s friends told of their desperate attempts to save him. One said: “He didn’t seem to be moving. He looked a bit blue. His head kept going under.
“I grabbed Paul. I tried so hard to keep hold of him. I was screaming for help but I had to get out because I was just so tired.” Natalie said: “God knows what his friends went through. I strongly believe if children were more aware of the dangers they might think twice.
“I don’t want any other families to go through what I have. I’d urge parents not to take anything for granted, especially their children.
“One day you wake up happy as usual and the next your whole life has been turned upside down.”
Like Rebecca, Fiona, 39, of Crook,