A newly-married Spalding Academy teacher has reiterated the importance of water safety after saving a young boy’s life days after her wedding.
Shannon Pearson, of Whaplode, was enjoying what was meant to be a relaxing post wedding family trip to Skegness on Saturday, July 26.
But when husband Luke spotted a young boy drowning, and with the coastguard too far away, she jumped in to save his life.
Shannon was playing on the beach with their children Amelie (2), Theodore (3), and Luke’s son Isaac (16), who lives in Australia.
“Luke was fishing and he saw the boy swimming in front of him outside of the red flags between which you’re meant to swim,” said Shannon. “He regularly fishes there so knows how strong the current can be and kept an eye on him.
“Eventually you could see his arms waving as his head kept going under water and he was in full-on drowning mode. Neither of us spoke; we just knew we had to act.
“Luke had to take off all his fishing gear and waders, so I jumped in.
“Luckily, I was only wearing light clothes. I managed to get to the boy, calm him down and get him to shore.”
A Coastguard tended to both Shannon and the boy, who lives in Skegness, and they were treated for hypothermia and taken by ambulance to Pilgrim Hospital in Boston.
Shannon says she ‘hates’ cold water and ‘usually avoids it like the plague,’ but has been swimming since she was five.
The head of food preparation and nutrition at Spalding Academy wanted to speak about the incident to emphasise the important of keeping safe both in and around water.
“We’ve spoken at school about the importance of water safety recently as we know how much the children like to jump off bridges and go swimming in the rivers and sea,” Shannon said. “But there’s probably not enough education out there.
“It’s really important to know that the things you hear about of people getting into trouble really does happens.
“Even if you’re a strong swimmer, you can still get into difficulties.
“You never know what the currents are doing and what the cold water does to you.
“I was struggling at one point. People on the beach said I and the boy had the water coming over our heads for a bit. I did learn water safety while at a swimming club and that just all came back to me.
“If speaking about it means one more person is saved as a result then it’s absolutely worth it.”
Shannon and Luke had got married at Spalding Registration Office the previous Saturday before holding a reception in their back garden.
They’re now hoping to save up for a honeymoon to go scuba diving in warmer waters.
“You’d think we’d be looking for something more out of the water now, but it’s something we love,” Shannon said.
