When the sun is shining and children are out playing, panic befalls mum Vicky Waugh as she is plunged straight back to the dark horror that unfolded this time two years ago.
The 34-year-old lost her only child, Kalen, in the summer of 2022 after he drowned whilst swimming with friends during a UK heatwave. The 16-year-old got into difficulty after plunging into Salford Quays in Greater Manchester to cool off.
His devastated mother had to endure an agonising wait overnight until his body was recovered and his death was confirmed. Ever since, she has been unable to go near water and was too distressed even to take balloons to the spot where he died on his birthday.
“Kalen was my only son, I was a single mum and so we were inseparable. We did everything together,” said Vicky, who was just 15 when she fell pregnant with Kalen, and was supported by her mum, Dawn, and nanna Sandra.
“My recurring worry was how he’d cope if anything ever happened to me. Not for a moment did I think he would die first. He wasn’t even planning to swim that day, but he was a strong swimmer and a fit young lad. If it can happen to him, it can happen to anyone.”
She added: “Two years on, my life is a blur. I miss him so much and I have not been able to enter his bedroom. It is just as he left it.”
On that fateful day of July 16, 2022, at around 2pm the son left the house to meet with friends. Vicky says he didn’t have any swimwear and didn’t mention any plans to swim, so believes it was a spontaneous decision. “I gave him some money and I caught him sneaking out with my new water flask, so we had the usual banter over that. It was just a normal afternoon,” Vicky recalls.
She was dyeing her hair when, at 6pm, she got a message to say Kalen was in trouble in the water at Ontario Basin in Salford Quays. “I thought there was a mistake,” she says. “I rushed down there, and it was busy, and I was sure it was all a misunderstanding. But then I got round the corner, and I saw police and ambulances. I was told he’d gone under the water. I was frantic, screaming for him. A police officer took me home and I was told that a specialist team was needed to recover his body.
“I stared at my phone, all night, and I convinced myself it wasn’t true. If there was no body, perhaps he’d got out? I kept lying to myself.” At 6.30am the following morning, Kalen’s body was recovered, and Vicky was taken to make the formal identification.
She now can’t bear to watch the news and is heartbroken at the number of deaths from similar incidents recorded since. Following the second anniversary of his passing, she has called for lessons to be learned and is pleading for other children to stay away from open water.
With the death toll already rising this year from downing accidents, she fears more lives will be lost this summer holiday. Vicky, from Salford, says: “I try not to read the news now because I hate to see that another child has drowned.
“Every time it’s sunny, I panic, thinking people will be diving into rivers and lakes. Children need educating about the dangers but there is also a lot more the authorities could do; fencing water off and erecting signs. Open water needs to be properly policed because it is dangerous.
“It’s two years since I lost my son and this year feels even worse than the first. I haven’t had any counselling or support, despite pleading with my GP for help, and I feel completely isolated. I just don’t want any other parent to suffer like me.”
She describes her son as a “live wire” with a “good heart” and “always on the go”. He was close to his grandma and great-grandma, however it was just the two of them following their sad deaths. In 2018, Vicky’s mum Dawn died suddenly aged 48 and in 2020, gran Sandra died from cancer.
The mum and son were brought closer together through grief, however now Vicky is left alone. A few weeks after her son’s shock death, she collected his GCSE results, which had secured him a place at college to study construction – a career he had dreamed of pursuing.
Instead of watching him grow into a young man, Vicky was forced to do the unimaginable for any parent and bury her son, alongside his family members. She has recently had a headstone fitted so that Kalen’s friends can visit his grave, however upon his 18th birthday, she couldn’t bring herself to lay the balloons and flowers she had planned.
“It is such a tragic waste of a young life,” she adds. “I cling to any little reminders of him, and I find each day so hard. It is some comfort to me that he is with my mum and grandmother, and they will be looking after him.
“I only hope Kalen’s death will make other kids realise just how dangerous it is to swim in open water. But it feels to me like lessons are not being learned. I hope his legacy can be to educate other youngsters against the dangers of open-water swimming.”
An inquest into Kalen’s death, held in July last year, at Bolton Coroner’s Court, ruled he had drowned in a case of misadventure. Each year, on average 19 people drown when swimming in open water, according to National Water Safety Forum.
Earlier this year in May when the country was hit with its first bout of hot weather for the summer, Merseyside Police issued a reminder about the dangers of open water – including lakes, reservoirs, ponds, canals and rivers – after ‘wild swimming’ has become increasingly popular in recent years.
Inspector Stacey Pope of the Neighbourhood Policing Team at St Helens said: “We know how tempting it can be, particularly on a hot or humid day, to jump into or swim in open water, but we want to remind people of the potential dangers and urge them to stay safe.
“Open water swimming is vastly different to swimming in a pool and is much more dangerous. Even in warm weather, the water is often a lot colder than you expect and sudden immersion can lead to cold water shock. Even the strongest of swimmers can get into difficulty quickly.
“Please be vigilant, even when near stretches of open water. Drowning is one of the leading causes of accidental death in the UK and we know that many of these cases involve normal everyday activities where there was no intention of entering the water.
“The depth of open water can be difficult to judge, and steep sides and banks can make it hard to get out. There are also hidden dangers beneath the surface of the water, including debris that can not only cause injury but also potentially trap you under water. Open water is also often untreated, and many contain contaminants that can make you extremely ill.” She added: “Pay attention to signs at local beauty spots, know the location of lifesaving apparatus such as throw lines and what to do if you see someone who is in trouble in the water.”