2-year-old boy saved after dad sees dry drowning story

COLORADO – A silver lining has appeared in the death of a 4-year-old boy who died of dry drowning days after he went swimming.

Francisco Delgado's story saved the life of another boy.

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After reading about Delgado's death, a father in Colorado recognized the symptoms in his 2-year-old boy after he had been swimming.

KTRK reports Garon Vega said his son, Gio, had a fever trouble breathing after swallowing water while swimming.

Vega immediately took Gio to the hospital where doctors told him his son would not have made it through the night without his quick response.

The incident came just days after news of Delgado's death made national headlines. Delgado died of dry drowning almost a week after he had been swimming.

"I feel like I needed to reach out to the parents of little Frankie and tell them, I don't know how to word it, but their little boy saved our little boy's life," Vega told KTRK.

Dry or secondary drowning occurs when someone breathes water into his or her lungs. It occurs more prominently in children, but can also happen with adults.

In dry drowning cases, the water causes vocal chords to spasm and close, shutting off the airway and making it hard to breathe.

With secondary drowning, the airways open and let water into the lungs, causing pulmonary edema, which is when fluid builds up and makes it difficult to breathe.

Symptoms of secondary drowning may not show for up to 24 hours after a patient has gone swimming.

The symptoms of both dry and secondary drowning include coughing, chest pain, trouble breathing and feeling tired.