Family hoping daughter’s drowning at Willow Pond Park can help other children

SALT LAKE CITY — The family of a 10-year-old girl pulled from the water at Willow Pond Park in Murray last week said she will save multiple lives.

“Unfortunately we have to say goodbye to our niece, daughter and granddaughter,” said Connie Bradshaw, Leneah Taeoalii’s aunt. “She saved her sister’s life, and she’s going to save a lot of other kids’ lives too, because everything is viable except for her lungs.”

Bradshaw said Leneah was playing at Willow Pond Park with her dad and her sister. When her dad needed to use the restroom, he asked the girls to wait right outside the door.

“Being little kids, they were throwing each other’s shoes around until they threw them near the pond,” Bradshaw recounted. “As they got near the pond, they hit a pocket of mud and it sucked them both in.”

Related: A child can drown in seconds. Doctors want more families to be prepared

She said Leneah was able to push her little sister out of the mud at the last second, ultimately saving her life, before her head went under the water.

“At that time my brother had come out of the bathroom and ran as fast as he physically could, but unfortunately, [he] suffers from Parkinson’s disease from the military. So his ability to run is quite limited,” she said. “But he made it to the water and the same thing happened to him, he was sucked under as he was frantically searching for his daughter.”

Police and rescue crews were eventually able to pull Leneah from the water, but they estimate she had been under for about ten minutes.

KSL has previously reported that the child was found about 12 feet from shore and approximately 7 feet below the surface near the middle of the pond. 

After performing CPR and hearing a pulse, they flew her by Life Flight to Primary Children’s Hospital where she was placed on life support.

A GoFundMe* account has been created to help support the family. 

But they’re also conducting a fundraiser at Cravings Cupcakes in Pleasant Grove on Friday, Aug. 7. That store is owned by a cousin to the family.

Bradshaw said that 100% of the proceeds will go to supporting the family, and helping them heal.

---

*KSL does not assure that the money deposited to the account will be applied for the benefit of the persons named as beneficiaries. If you are considering a deposit to the account, you should consult your own advisors and otherwise proceed at your own risk.