Mom of Drowning Victim Becomes Advocate

HOUSTON - So far this year, 16 children have drowned in the Houston area. The drowning death of a child is one of the hardest things to talk about, but a Houston mother has been busy telling her story for the past year.

Deonesia Grays is on a mission to help others overcome their fear of water and learn to swim, including her own son. Grays never put her four year old daughter, Bria, in swimming lessons. Sadly, in 2005 Bria became a statistic when she drowned in an apartment pool. Big brother, Deon, saw the struggle to save Bria's life and later had nightmares about drowning himself.

"That was my only fear after my sister died. I didn't want to go near water. I didn't want to see water. I didn't even want to drink water," said Deon Grays.

Now, four years later, Deon is taking the first steps toward overcoming his fear by simply getting in the pool. "I want to know that he's equipped with the right things to know how to swim if he is around a body of water," said Grays.

Just putting his face in the water is a milestone for the ten year old. The odds certainly aren't on his side. There's a wide minority swimming gap in the United States. A first of its kind study by USA Swimming shows 60% of African American children and more than half of Latino kids can't swim. That's compared to just 31% of white children.

"I don't think you grow up being African American thinking, 'Oh I'm just going to go swimming.' It's not something you really think about because I never thought about it," said Grays.

Grays hopes she and her son can be role models for other minorities to show that learning to swim really is a necessary skill. "Don't assume that it can't happen to you because I made the assumption it could not happen to me and it did."

Grays says money shouldn't be an issue because many places like the YMCA offer scholarships to families for swimming lessons.