Bode Miller debuts drowning prevention campaign and reveals wife is pregnant again
For the past year, Nicole Hughes and Morgan Miller have leaned on each other from across the country as they've navigated an unthinkable journey. Morgan and her husband – Olympic skier Bode Miller – lost their daughter Emmy last June. After the 19-month-old slipped out of a neighbor's house and drowned in a swimming pool. That same day Nicole's 3-year-old son Levi also drowned after he wandered outside during a family vacation.
The families channeled their grief into action, partnering with the American Academy of Pediatrics to create new PSA's alerting other parents to the dangers of drowning, a top cause of death for 1-to-4-year-olds. New guidance says swim lessons can help children after age one and home pools need to be surrounded by four-foot fencing and a locked gate.
Bode Miller revealed to "CBS This Morning" on Wednesday that his wife, Morgan, is expecting a child and was joined by Nicole Hughes, who is also expecting, to discuss some of the new guidelines to help prevent a tragedy like the one they both experienced.
For Miller, what he finds most terrifying about child drowning incidents, including his own, is that they tend to happen during "non-swim time." He also emphasized that this is the time time of year parents should be particularly cautious.
"Kids are crafty and they get out fast and this whole process, I think the terrifying part about this time of year is you know the kids are thinking it before the parents are," Miller said. "It happens quick and it happens when you're not swimming. You're cooking and the kid's gone for that amount of time and you're left with a lifetime of, sort of, regret."
The death of Hughes' son unfolded similarly. He slipped out of a room full of people including her own parents.
"It was so fast and you think there's time and you think that it's not going to happen to you," Hughes said.
A huge part of their message, Hughes said, is to make sure that parents and pediatricians start treating thinking about the safety measures around pools much like we do car seats or seat belts in cars.
"Drowning is just as deadly and just as preventable as car accidents and as these illnesses. So if we could just approach it with that same urgency. It is 100 percent preventable. You can keep your child alive," Hughes said.
"These are things that were sort of an evolution of safety," Miller said. "And there's a bunch of stuff coming out right now that I'm excited to launch in the market … Parents can't watch a piece of water, you know a pool, all the time. It's just not realistic."
For drowning prevention tips and more information about the updated water safety guidelines, visit the American Academy of Pediatrics' website.
You can watch all of the PSAs from the new AAP campaign here.
