Jakki Pettitt, unlocks her future, a future without the fear of water. For many years, during the summer, she sat poolside.

"Waiting on the sidelines, handing towels, maybe put my feet in the water," Pettitt says. advertisement

Then, the unthinkable happened. When her 9-year old son Avery was two, he fell into the pool at grandma's house and nearly drowned. Mom was the only one around to help.

"He was in the pool screaming and the only thing I could do was scream with him," Pettitt says.

Avery made it out okay. But, mom had some deep-rooted fears of water.

"When I was younger, I had a cousin that pushed me into the pool, that's frightening, because you don't know what to expect and there was some trust that was violated there."

But, it led to something valuble, she learned to swim, and she also teaches CPR for the American Red Cross.

"If I can teach people CPR, along with the Red Cross, then maybe there'll be one more adult that won't have to go through what I went through."

Mom is happy. So is her family. Her children grateful for the safe summer fun, they can have together.

"When we were kids, we used to just call, come on mom, come in it feels so awesome, and she's like no, no, I can't swim, every time we'd do that, and now, she can swim and now she can come swim with us," Jakki Pettitt's son Bryson says.

12 News is dedicated to water safety. Learn about CPR classes, swim lessons and pool safety at www.targetzero.azcentral.com

Reproduced with permission from: The Arizona Republic By Syleste Rodriguez ©Copyright 2007 Arizona Republic