Mom was glad when a flotation device helped her son swim — not knowing she would lose him soon

Three-year-old Bodhi Kervin once clung to his mother in fear whenever he approached the water. Like many parents, Heaven Kervin believed she was doing the right thing when she slipped her young son into a pair of brightly colored puddle jumpers, a popular flotation device designed for children. It made him brave, she recalled. He finally felt safe. Confident. Independent. She uploaded the video to her TikTok account, @the.kerwin.family.

But weeks later, that very confidence turned catastrophic. In June 2022, while house-sitting for a family member in what she believed to be a childproof home, Heaven experienced every parent’s worst nightmare. In the early hours of the morning, Bodhi and his baby sister, Audrey, slipped out through an unsecured door while the rest of the house slept. The family dog’s barking woke her up. She rushed outside. Audrey was at the edge of the backyard pool. Bodhi was at the bottom.

Heaven pulled him from the water and performed CPR until paramedics arrived. For nine agonizing days, the family clung to hope in the hospital. They got his heartbeat back, but the damage to his little body was too severe. Despite every effort, Bodhi didn’t make it.

“He always dreamed of becoming a firefighter, of saving lives,” Heaven said to Newsweek. In keeping with that dream, she chose to donate his organs. “He saved three people,” she added. Now, she’s doing what she can to save even more. In the wake of Bodhi’s death, Heaven began to look closer at what had gone wrong. The flotation device that once seemed like a savior turned out to be a silent threat. “Puddle jumpers taught him that he could swim when he really couldn’t,” she said. “They gave him a false sense of security.”

It’s a concern echoed by water safety experts across the U.S., including the National Drowning Prevention Alliance, which warns that flotation devices should never be used as swim aids. They keep children upright in the water, a position strikingly similar to how they drown. Instead, children should be taught how to float on their backs and swim to safety, while always remaining within arm’s reach of a supervising adult. According to the American Red Cross, around 4,000 people drown unintentionally each year in the U.S., with children aged 1 to 4 most at risk. Drowning is the leading cause of death for that age group.

But Heaven, other than spreading awareness about flotation devices, is also highlighting the lack of legislation in her home state of Texas. This summer marked three years since Bodhi’s death, but for Heaven, the grief still feels raw. She continues to share his story through talks, social media, and videos that have reached thousands, with one hope in mind, that another family might never have to endure the pain that hers now lives with every day. “Little did we know,” reads the caption on a video of Bodhi joyfully splashing in the pool, “That the puddle jumper was teaching him he could swim, when he couldn’t. One day, he went back to the water alone. And we lost him.”

To follow her journey, you can find her on TikTok as @the.kerwin.family.