Nate Dueck, 3, was sitting on the edge of his grandpa’s pool in Abbotsford with his sisters Lucy, 5, and Faith, 8, during a family celebration last June.
The three were kicking their feet in the water of the in-ground pool, waiting for their parents to gather up a few things before they left.
Faith and Lucy liked a song they heard playing on the stereo and got up to dance. They thought Nate would follow.
But the girls turned around and were horrified to see that Nate had slipped into the pool.
Lucy raced to the edge, splayed herself across the ground and reached for Nate’s hands, which were barely poking out of the water. Neither she nor Nate could swim.
Faith started screaming: “Mom! Mom! Mom! Mom!”
Nate’s head was fully submerged, but Lucy was able to grab his fingers.
She tried to pull him up, but she was the same weight as her brother and she couldn’t do it. She held on as tight as she could.
* * *
Nate had been a miracle baby. He was born Nov. 12, 2010 at 24 weeks’ gestation, weighing just 2 lbs. 2 oz., and spent five months in hospital, including a recovery period from heart surgery. There were many moments when his parents, Misty and Ben, thought they would lose him.
Those precarious few months soon faded away and Nate grew into a happy, active toddler whowho loved Play-Doh, painting and Lego. He also enjoyed splashing in the salt-water pool in his grandpa’s back yard in the Auguston area of Abbotsford.
He hadn’t yet learned to swim, so he always wore a lifejacket.
Nate was excited last June 1 when he, his parents, his two sisters and three teen foster kids headed over to his grandfather's home. Misty's nieces Abby and Madison Cunningham had turned 15 and 13 on May 25 and 30 respectively, and there was a birthday celebration.
The two teens lived in the same home as their grandfather, along with their parents and two siblings.
About 60 people showed up for the occasion, and the pool was well used. Nate and Lucy wore their lifejackets for most of the day, but had removed them when it was time to leave.
Nate, Lucy and Faith asked Misty if they could splash their feet in the water as they waited to go.
"OK, but make sure you watch Nate," she said as the girls protectively placed their arms in front of their little brother.
Abby was outside on the second-storey deck, talking to a friend and watching the goings-on below.
Misty was standing about 15 feet from her three children when she was distracted by a ruckus involving one of her foster kids. The teen had grabbed a towel away from a younger boy, who became upset and started yelling.
"You need to give him the towel back," Misty began reasoning with her foster son.
This commotion, plus the loud music playing in the background, prevented her from hearing Faith's screams.
Meanwhile, Abby saw that Nate had fallen in the pool. Without uttering a word, Abby, in her pretty blue party dress, kicked off her sandals, tore down the stairs, leaped over the railing and dove head-first into the deep end of the pool, where Nate was submerged.
Misty was surprised by this burst of activity and her split-second thought was, "Those teenagers are crazy! What's she doing?"
She turned around, and everything felt like it was in slow motion as she realized what was happening. Misty moved to the edge of the pool to help grab Nate out of the water, just as Abby swam up and pushed on his bottom to lift him.
Misty was frantic. Her little boy had fought so hard to stay in the world upon his birth, and she pleaded that this not be the way he left it.
“No! No! No!” she cried, as she reached for her son.
Weighed down by his clothes, Nate was heavy and slippery, but Misty and Lucy were able to wrench him out of the water.
At first, he was dazed and quiet. Misty smacked him twice on the back, and Nate coughed up some water and started to cry.
He seemed to be OK, but Misty worried that he might have damaged his lungs, which had not fully developed at birth and were still somewhat weak. He was taken to the hospital, where X-rays showed no apparent damage, and was released within a couple of hours.
Misty couldn't help but think what could have happened if her daughters and niece hadn't seen Nate in the pool and hadn't moved so quickly to save him. Words were not enough to express her gratitude.
* * *
About a month after the incident, Misty contacted the BC and Yukon branch of the Lifesaving Society, which presents the annual Honour and Rescue Awards, including the Silver Medal for Bravery.
She felt that Lucy, Abby and Faith were deserving of recognition.
"I don't think people understand … that most kids freeze and they don't know what to do (in a situation like this)," she said.
Misty was notified in February that the three girls had been selected to receive awards. They each received certificates, and Lucy and Abby were also given bravery medals by Lt.-Gov. Judith Guichon during a ceremony on March 28 in Vancouver.
Abby said she didn't think saving Nate was such a big deal at the time, but realized how much it had impacted her when she sat down to write a synopsis of the incident for the awards ceremony and had to keep taking breaks as she relived the experience in her mind.
Faith, too, has been impacted and is in counselling for post traumatic stress disorder related to the pool incident, as well as a situation last August in which Misty found Nate unconscious on the floor of his bedroom. It was determined that he had suffered a long seizure, and he came close to dying. He is now on anti-seizure medication and hasn't had a seizure since.
Misty has ensured that her daughters understand that the pool incident was not their fault, emphasizing that it's her job as mom to watch out for her kids.
As for Nate, he's just looking forward to another summer of swimming in Grandpa's pool.