Yahoo News Charlie Simpson shares terrifying drowning incident with youngest son
Busted's Charlie Simpson has opened up about a terrifying incident with his youngest son Jago.
The 4-year-old was rushed to hospital after swimming while on holiday, and was diagnosed with secondary drowning.
The singer said he felt he had to share the incident to raise awareness, and hopefully help others.
"We were on holiday enjoying a morning in the pool. Jago is a strong swimmer for his age and he was swimming under water but suddenly came up spluttering and coughing," he wrote on Instagram.
"At no point was he left unattended, it was momentary, nothing seemingly unusual for kids to experience. We got him out and he seemed fine and happy and was completely normal for the rest of the day."
Charlie added: "At dinner he became very lethargic and went to sleep in my wife’s arms. After dinner he suddenly woke up and started projectile vomiting.
"We called a doctor immediately who initially diagnosed it as food poisoning and advised that we put Jago to bed in our hotel room and keep an eye on him.
"Before the doctor left, I suddenly remembered Jago coughing in the pool that morning and I remembered reading about a condition called secondary drowning, so I relayed it to the doctor.
"After hearing this, his demeanour changed and he told us to go to A&E straight away."
Charlie said Jago "deteriorated" on the way to the hospital until he was drifting in and out of consciousness.
"He was rushed through to have CT scans and X-rays and to our absolute horror, we were told that he had water in his lungs and was minutes away from pneumonia," he continued.
"Jago was diagnosed with secondary drowning. He spent the next three days in hospital and I’m so thankful for the amazing care he received. It was the worst thing we have ever experienced.
"The scariest thing of all is that had we not taken him to hospital when we did, the outcome could have been very different."
Charlie, who also shares son Arlo with his wife Anna, added: "After doing a lot of research, secondary drowning is seemingly quite rare but even so, not talked about.
"It takes less than half a glass of inhaled water to drown. Symptoms can start as long as 72 hours after the event which can make them hard to diagnose. These include vomiting, fever, laboured breathing and lethargy.
"I truly hope no one ever has to experience this but I hope to be able to raise some awareness of this frightening condition in case they do."
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