Our Story

Our Story - In Taylor's Words...

On April 14th, 2024, our daughter Octavia drowned on a family trip to a waterpark. It happened in an instant. I remember folding a towel and giving my son his shoes. When I looked up, Octavia was missing. When I finally found her, she had drifted 80 feet down a lazy river. She was face-up and completely submerged. I dove in after her. She wasn't breathing.

She was lifeless.

I pulled her out of the water and begged and pleaded for someone — anyone — to call 911. The world around me vanished. There was no crowd, no waterpark, no noise. There was only me and my daughter. I was in tunnel vision, in a trance, full of uncertainty and infinite worry, doing everything in my power to bring her back.

Through quick thinking, action, training, a cascade of serendipity and astonishing reprieve, I performed high-quality CPR on our daughter.

And then she opened her dark as charcoal eyes.

I have seen a lot of things in my life. Nothing will ever come close to the moment those eyes opened. Nothing. It was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen — her second first breath, her dark as charcoal eyes finding mine, our entire world that had just come crashing down around us bursting back into sunshine. The relief was indescribable. It felt like every ounce of weight in the world vanished in an instant. My daughter was still alive. My family was still whole.

What seemed like an eternity was probably only a few seconds. Asia and I had experienced a nightmare and a miracle in a single moment.

We were met by paramedics and firefighters and Octavia was taken to the ambulance. Hearing her cry washed over us with relief as her first sounds gave us confirmation that our little girl was okay. Octavia was monitored by incredibly caring and professional nurses at the local emergency room and released to us after hours of testing.

Today, Octavia has made a full recovery. She is a beautiful, silly, smart, spunky little girl who truly makes this world a better place. We are eternally grateful that our family is whole. I would be remiss if I didn't tell you that I believe we owe it to the world to share this life-saving skill with everyone. In that moment, I wasn't part of the Safety Team. Asia wasn't a server at a busy restaurant. I wasn't a Captain on the Lead Volunteer Fire Department. We weren't coaches for a youth sports team. In that moment, I was just a dad — in the right place, at the right time, with the right knowledge and training to act.

Because of what we were given, Asia and I made a promise — to turn our Miracle into a Mission. If we can put the skills, awareness, and training that saved Octavia's life into the hands of even one more person, it will be worth everything. Our promise to you is to honor that miracle by ensuring the skills, awareness, and training that saved our daughter's life are never beyond your reach.