Christine Regina's love of the pool, her ability to swim with ease and her alertness helped save a little boy's life.
On a Saturday afternoon in June, Christine's grandfather gave her a 10-minute heads-up that their day at the Calypso Cove water park on Royal Palm Boulevard was almost over.
So the girl, age 7, grabbed her blue and pink Frozen-themed goggles for one last dip.
When she was leaving the pool she had noticed a little boy flapping his arms in the 4- to 5-foot-deep area, but she thought he was playing. When she came back and swam underwater with eyes wide open, she saw Darryl McIntyre Jr., 6, of Fort Lauderdale, on the pool's floor.
"Yellow stuff was coming out of his mouth," Christine said.
She swam to a 15-year-old girl she had met earlier in the day. "I think he's drowning," she told Rebecca Valbrun, of Pompano Beach.
"At first I was real confused," Valbrun said, but she followed Christine to the spot anyway, found the boy, scooped him off the pool's floor, and swam him over to the edge.
Penny Jo Stone, Christine's grandmother, who lives in Margate, said she witnessed the child's rescue. She said no bystanders, including herself and the lifeguards, seemed to notice what was happening until after Valbrun brought the boy to the pool's edge.
But city spokeswoman Alison Saffold said that wasn't the case: A lifeguard had noticed there was a young child alone.
"While scanning the area again, the lifeguard noticed the child was underwater and no longer swimming," she said. "As the lifeguard prepared to enter the pool in order to initiate a rescue, a teenager who was already in the pool was able to bring the child up above the water line.
"The lifeguard noticed the child was motionless," whistled and radioed the guard room to call 911.
After lifeguards performed CPR, "the child began breathing on his own," Saffold said.
Darryl was taken to Northwest Medical Center, and his mother said he made a full recovery, being released the next day. "There was so much water in my mouth, but the hospital got to suck it out of me," Darryl said.
On Wednesday night, the City Commission signed off giving both girls lifetime passes to the water park, as well as one guest since a parent needs to drive them there. They are the only ones to ever be given a lifetime pass.
The passes will be formally presented July 13.
"The outcome was awesome," said Mayor Tommy Ruzzano. "This could have been a tragedy."
Darryl's mother, Pia Samuels, said she felt comfortable walking away from the pool to put her purse in the locker because she said her son could swim and because lifeguards were stationed.
But when she turned around, she didn't see him. She walked to the water playground section and when she heard the whistles, she knew. "It happened so fast," she said.
Now the families are forever friends. Christine and Darryl celebrated the Fourth of July together, and Darryl's mother has taken both girls out to lunch to express her gratitude.
"They are always going to be a part of me," Samuels said. "They saved his life. It's a miracle."
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