Matthew Warren will never forget the “miracle” that took place on the Shuswap River in Enderby over the B.C. Day long weekend, after his nine-year-old son submerged in the water and didn’t come back up. The Warrens, from Calgary, had gone to the beach at W.J. Tuey Regional Park Monday afternoon, Aug. 3, at the behest of Paul-Angelo, their youngest son, who was eager for a beach day. “He wanted to go to a beach and play, we said ‘OK buddy, we’ll do it for you,’ because he’s such a good kid,” Warren told The Morning Star. Warren said all of his kids, including Paul-Angelo, are good swimmers. They swim in plenty of lakes and rivers in the Calgary area. He said there were some people on the other side of the river who were cheering Paul-Angelo on, trying to get him to come play with them. So Paul-Angelo swam. Though her son can swim well, something didn’t sit right with the boy’s mother. “My wife was trying to get my son (to) come back,” said Warren. “She said, ‘we don’t know this river. It’s not like Calgary where we pretty much know all our lakes.’” Paul-Angelo got halfway across the river and looked back at his mom. In a flash, beach play turned into crisis. “My wife’s looking at him and next thing she knows, all she sees is a hand,” Warren said. “He just went under quick.” Warren said his son got stuck under some driftwood and couldn’t get out of the water, while being pulled downstream. READ MORE: Calgary child drowns in Shuswap River in Enderby “Me and my wife were pretty much hysterical,” he said. Warren’s niece and about half a dozen others went searching in the water for the boy, donning goggles to see under the murky, sand-stirred water. “His big brother went running out there right away, but he started losing footing as well,” Warren said. Eventually, Paul-Angelo was found and brought to shore. He’d been underwater for five to 10 minutes. On the beach with their son in dire condition, the Warrens’ miracle moment unfolded. Warren explained that among the beach goers that day was a team of health care professionals. “How does that even happen? Having a whole hospital team sitting right there,” he wondered. “The people that were working on him were nurses and doctors.” Warren described a scene in which a nurse was giving his son chest compressions while another was giving him breath, and a third health care professional checked the boy’s pulse. Paramedics soon arrived, and Paul-Angelo was transported to hospital in critical condition. The family is currently at the BC Children’s Hospital in Vancouver, where Paul-Angelo is being cared for in the intensive care unit. Though he wakes periodically, he is being kept in a medically induced coma for now. Some tests were done on Wednesday and more will be done Thursday, “but all the tests have come back really good,” Warren said. “They’re just going to wait on an MRI. And if that comes back good, they said they’re going to start waking him up,” he added. Warren is extremely grateful for the help they received, saying the four or five off-duty professionals likely saved his son’s life, and plenty more offered to help. Not to mention the strangers, among them a kayaker, who helped find Paul-Angelo in the water. “If they weren’t there, chances are he probably might not be here today,” he said. “My wife and I are so grateful. We don’t know what we would have done if we would have lost our child.” Family cautions out-of-town visitors The Warrens want to caution other visitors, particularly ones from other areas or provinces like them, who aren’t as familiar with the Shuswap River as locals. Locals, too, should heed the lessons of their harrowing experience, Warren said. He said to take extra precautions with kids who are eager to get in the water and may not listen if called to come to shore. It’s a lesson he doesn’t want any other family to have to learn the hard way. “They need to watch what’s underneath that river, because we don’t know what’s under there.” He also advises people with First Aid training to consider keeping a portable AED (defibrillator) in their vehicle, as this device was on hand and used to instruct the administration of CPR during his son’s resuscitation. Warren was also disappointed to see that some people on the other side of the river were taking videos instead of helping the effort to retrieve his son. The family has even seen videos surface on TikTok, which they’ve reported. “We’re trying to ask everybody, please have respect. He is a nine-year-old child and we want to try and keep him off social media,” Warren said. “If we’re going to post anything, it’ll be mine and my wife’s decision.” The family has in fact posted text updates on social media to give insight to family and friends on their son’s condition, and to thank the strangers who may have saved his life. “We have the biggest thanks for all of them.”
Calgary man says beachside heroics saved his son from drowning in Enderby river
