Morgan Beck Miller shares heartbreaking last moments of baby daughter’s life to highlight drowning awareness

American World Cup alpine ski racer Bode Miller and professional volleyball player wife Morgan Beck Miller tragically lost their toddler daughter Emeline “Emmy” Miller to an accidental drowning death this June. Today Morgan shared a heartbreaking photo of their daughter’s last moments in the hospital to remember their daughter and raise awareness of the dangers of small children and pools. The scenario that happened to the Miller’s is unimaginably tragic and happened during a normal, fun-filled day.

The couple’s kids regularly swam with father Bode in the morning, as they did the day Emmy passed away. After a full days of activities that included a birthday party at another house, Morgan took Emmy and her brother Nash to a neighbor’s house to visit. While the kids were playing and the adults were chatting, Emmy found a door to the backyard, which was supposed to be closed, was open and made her way to the pool.

After a few minutes of not hearing Emmy run back and fourth from the kids play-area to the adults, Morgan went to check on Emmy. She saw a glint of light coming from the backyard door and then saw her 19-month-old child floating in the pool. Morgan immediately dove into save her daughter and perform CPR while the neighbor phoned for help. Initially doctors had hope they could save Emmy, but sadly their hopes were dashed as the child’s condition worsened.

I wish I could have one more day to hold you, but until that day comes, continue to work through me and give me the strength to bring awareness, my love. I told you as I held you in this moment that you could still change the world, you could still move mountains. Every step we take forward is because of you and Levi. Your footprint will forever be left on this world. I love you, My baby girl.

A post shared by Morgan Miller (@morganebeck) on Aug 17, 2018 at 10:20am PDT

Drowning is the leading cause of death for children aged 1-4 years aside from deaths attributed to birth defects according to the CDC. Teaching children to swim is a huge step towards preventing these deaths, but in the case of children as young as Emmy, barriers to water and close supervision are tantamount.

This devastating situation has not deterred the family from playing in the water, in fact their situation highlights the dire importance of teaching water safety to children. Bode posted a shot of himself swimming with their three-year-old son Nash this morning on Instagram stories to show how the family is coping and moving on despite their tragedy. “Floating competition between Daddy and Nash. Thank @isrgrandrapids,” Morgan captioned the shot shared on the social media platform. ISR stands for Infant Swimming Services, a water safety training program.

Bode has two children, Samuel (5) Neesyn (10,) from a previous marriage. Morgan is currently pregnant with her third child with Bode.

Amelia Cunningham is a Starcasm writer and editor