A 17-year-old Lowell High School student is being credited with saving the life of a 3-year-old autistic boy who nearly drowned in a swimming pool at a Kissimmee, Florida vacation rental. Kayla Rivera, a rising senior, performed chest compressions on the boy, known as LJ, after her father pulled him from the bottom of the pool unresponsive and not breathing.
The incident happened while LJ's family was packing for an excursion, according to the Lowell Sun. LJ asked to go in the water and then slipped under the pool's surface without making a splash or noise, the newspaper reported. Alex Rivera, Kayla's father, found the boy at the bottom of the pool and pulled him out.
Kayla immediately dialed 911 and gave the operator the vacation rental's address while her father brought LJ out of the water. She placed LJ on his side, performed chest compressions, and worked to keep him breathing as first responders raced to the scene, per the Lowell Sun's account. LJ eventually gargled up water and vomit, opened his eyes, started crying, and regained his normal skin and lip color before paramedics arrived and transported him to the hospital.
A Skill Set Built Over Five Summers
Rivera said she has practiced CPR and first aid every summer since seventh grade, when she first attended the Lowell Police Department's Student Police Academy. The free, three-week summer leadership program for incoming fifth through eighth graders is run by School Resource Officers and has graduated more than 5,200 local students over its 26-year history, according to the Lowell Police Department. The academy teaches CPR, first aid, leadership, discipline, role modeling and citizenship, and Rivera has spent the last two summers working as a staff member there after starting as a student herself.
Garret DeJong, a longtime paramedic and EMS professional who owns and operates Force One Group LLC — which provides first aid and allied health professional education — has taught CPR at the academy for 19 years. Lowell Police Officer Mindy Purcell notified DeJong about what happened in Florida, and he later said a civilian with roughly an hour of training a year stayed calm and saved a life. DeJong presented Rivera with a special award and lifesaving citation on August 14 during the academy's fifth- and sixth-grade cadet graduation ceremony. Purcell said she is extremely proud of Rivera.
Why Seconds Mattered So Much
LJ's near-silent slip beneath the water reflects a pattern well documented among autistic children, who face disproportionate drowning risks tied to wandering and a water attraction. Accidental drowning accounts for 91% of wandering and elopement fatalities among children with autism spectrum disorder under age 14, and Columbia University research indicates autistic children are 160 times more likely to die from drowning than their neurotypical peers, according to the National Autism Association. Nationally, drowning remains the leading cause of accidental death for children aged 1 to 4, per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Florida itself carries an outsized share of that risk. The state consistently leads the nation in child drowning fatalities, recording 105 such deaths in 2024 and 99 in 2023, according to the Autism Society of Florida. Research from the American Heart Association shows that bystander CPR performed within two minutes of cardiac arrest or loss of breathing raises a victim's odds of hospital survival by 81% and boosts the odds of preserved neurological function by 95% — numbers that help explain why LJ went home the next day with no lasting harm after an overnight hospital stay for observation.
Pool Safety Rules and a Stalled Bill
The near-drowning also occurred against a backdrop of Florida's vacation rental boom and its ongoing pool safety debate. Osceola County, home to Kissimmee, hosts more than 18,000 short-term vacation rentals in the Orlando tourist corridor and requires owners to hold both a state Department of Business and Professional Regulation license and a county rental permit. Under Chapter 515 of the Florida Statutes, known as the Residential Swimming Pool Safety Act, pools built after October 2000 must include at least one approved safety feature, such as a four-foot perimeter fence, self-latching gates, a pool cover, or door alarms.
State lawmakers considered tightening vacation rental pool safety standards near bodies of water during Florida's 2026 legislative session through House Bill 79, but the companion bill died in committee in March, leaving existing statutes unchanged.
Looking Ahead
Rivera, who also plays volleyball and serves as a cadet in Lowell High School's Air Force Junior ROTC Unit MA-771, said she credits the Student Police Academy with giving her the composure to respond the way she did. She said she aims to become a police officer and plans to enlist in the military or attend college after graduation. Her 13-year-old sister, Aleysha, who attends Stoklosa Middle School, was among those who watched her receive the lifesaving citation.
The Lowell Police Department also runs a paid civilian Police Cadet Program for young adults committing two years to local law enforcement, offering a structured pathway toward becoming an officer — the kind of path Rivera says she hopes to follow herself.
