She was 3 years old when she attended our local community pool as I dropped her off that morning to be with her older sister who was attending swim lessons. We were told that Kelsey could not start swim lessons until the age of 5. We believed that was just the way it was as these people were the experts. However, 45 minutes after I dropped her off at the pool that morning of June 15, 1993 she had waved goodbye and said that she loved me. It was the last time I ever would see my daughter alive. You see she drowned 8 feet away from a lifeguard while in the care of her babysitter. I was one of those parents that had the inground pool in the backyard and believed I did everything that was right. We used those blowup water wings in our pool, but she wasn’t allowed to use them at the public pool. What we now have learned and know to be true is that this just doesn’t happen to other people it can happen to anyone. I created http://thekelsgroup.com to focus on messaging and now have a worldwide ranked podcast. There’s a new Warrior in the world and that is you. You are a new breed of people that we call Drowning Warriors. We have a voice for those who do not. For those who have a voice we provide a platform to project that voice and tell their story. What we know can and does save lives. We wage war everyday with people that just don’t believe that it can happen to them, but it happens every day. We must do things differently, we take massive action as a team, we must be smarter, and we must be effective with our message from day 1. Drowning doesn’t discriminate, it has no boundaries, it is silent, it hits when you least expect it. So, we fight every day to be heard, to get our message out to the masses. We are the Drowning Warriors, and these are our stories.

Thank you,