“I think how people respond — with judgment or empathy — says so much about where they are at in understanding the human condition and nuance.”

As a Senior Writer and Content Creator for BuzzFeed and Tasty, I specialize in lifestyle reporting, viral human-interest stories, and travel/food media.

She said her body entered fight-or-flight mode when it was happening. "The only thing that was going through my mind was just that I wanted him to be okay, that I wanted my old life back, that I wanted him to have his life back. I mean, it's what he deserves, and it's just you can't even describe that feeling of when your child passes away from a preventable accident, a preventable tragedy. All that's going through your mind is 'where did I go wrong?' 'Where did we go wrong?' 'How did this happen?' 'Why did this happen?' Hindsight is playing in your head 24/7 and it's terrible."

In talking about Brady, she added, "I really just have so much empathy and love for him...He has allowed me to take out every emotion I've had throughout this process, whether it's on him or talking to him or with other people, and I just have so much respect for that, of how much he has just let me feel every emotion, and he's never made me feel bad for it. He's going through so much as well, and like I said, we are the only two people that can understand at all what the other person is going through."

What is helpful, according to Emilie sounds very different. "All you want to hear when you lose your child is, 'I'm so sorry.' And 'he deserves to be here,' or 'they deserve to be here,' and 'I wish you weren't having to go through this,' and 'I wish he hadn't had to go through this.' They don't help, but they make you feel loved and comforted," she said.

She then emphasized that childhood drowning is preventable. "If you have a pool and you have a young child, get a pool fence. I know there's other options. I was there, I chose that. I regret it. Having as many barriers to entry is what's important, so that's swim lessons, that's ISR lessons," she concluded.