After her son drowned, a Georgia mother turned grief into a mission to save others

After her young son drowned, a Polk County mother is on a mission to save as many people as possible through access to survival swim lessons.

Meshea Ingram is a mom who simply cherishes time with her family. Family has a deeper meaning for Ingram and her husband after having a miscarriage several years ago.

Following the miscarriage, Ingram and her husband tried again. They were able to have their youngest child, whom they called their light, or sunshine baby.

"His name was actually Briggam, but we called him Briggs for short. He was the light of our world. He had the biggest, dimply smile you've ever seen, and he was known for his laughter. His laughter would just fill a room, and you wouldn't believe that it was coming from a 2-year-old little boy," Ingram said. "I always say that God gave him such a big personality because he knew that his time on earth was going to be short."

On July 17, 2022, Ingram said they were at the family's lake house packing up to go home when Briggs slipped out of the house and wandered away, something Ingram said had to have happened in a split second while she was vacuuming.

"I quickly realized that he was missing and I started screaming for my husband for help," Ingram said. "We looked all over the yard, and we couldn't find him, and that's when it registered to me; Josh, we have to start looking in the water."

Ingram's husband, a firefighter, found Briggs in the lake and performed CPR on him for 30 minutes before he regained a heartbeat. Briggs was airlifted to Children's Hospital of Alabama in Birmingham, where he was on life support for five days before eventually taking his last breath.

"What we weren't aware of during Briggs' short life is that drowning is the leading cause of death in children ages 1 to 4, and the second leading cause of death in children ages 5 to 15," Ingram said. "No parent thinks my young child needs to know how to swim because you just assume you will be in the water with them or have your eyes on them at all times."

After her son's death, Ingram said a friend told her that she would start an organization to prevent other young kids from drowning, all in honor of Briggs' life. Not long after, Love Can Build A Briggs was created as a charity to raise awareness and to provide survival swim scholarships to families in need with young children.

"In the almost four years that he has been gone, we've been able to provide swim scholarships to over 100 children," Ingram said.

Ivy and Dalton Whitmore are both certified Infant Swimming Resource, or ISR, instructors. They co-own Surf's Up ISR in Dallas, Georgia, and have worked with Ingram in the past. They've equipped hundreds of young kids with the ability to instinctually know how to react and survive if they fall into the water.

"Kids are very quick around the water, and they gravitate to the water very quickly," Whitmore said. "The leading cause of death of children 1 to 4 is drownings, so it's a very common thing, and most people don't know. We teach lessons 10 minutes a day. Monday through Friday for six weeks, totaling 30 lessons.

Whitmore said these specialized lessons are for kids ages 6 months to 6 years old. Children 6 months to a year and a half are taught the roll back and float method, while kids from 1 and a half and older are taught the swim-float-swim method. Whitmore went on to say through the swim lessons, kids gain muscle memory through active, life-like simulations.

Mallory Champney has a 10-month-old and a 2-year-old. Her older child was undergoing a lesson at Surf's Up ISR while CBS News Atlanta was there.

"We're around the pool all the time, and that's all it takes is a split second, so for them to know these skills if they were to fall into the pool, they'd know how to save their lives before we get to them," Champney said. "From day one to now (talking about her 2-year-old's ability to swim) a ginormous transformation but that just shows you that this really works."

Ingram said the water needs to be safe before it's fun, and she hopes to help save as many children as possible through awareness and through the scholarship. She's currently working to find ways for child swim instruction and awareness to become a mandatory part of the state's curriculum across different sectors.

Certified ISR instructors near you can be found here.

On July 18, there will be a fundraiser and event honoring the life of Briggs and other young children who have died. The event will be held at Bremen's parks and recreation department from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Ingram said there will be vendors, food trucks, a live DJ, and a memory walk. This serves as the organization's largest fundraiser. The money raised helps supplement the survival swim scholarships and aid with grief support for families in need.