With the scorching heat and kids out of school, Gloria Gonzalez thought buying an inflatable pool would be just the thing for her nieces and nephews to cool-off. A tragedy quickly changed her mind.
"I turned him, and he was he was already passed," Gonzalez said as she remembered finding her nephew face-down, drowned in that inflatable pool she had just bought. “If it's possible, forget the idea of buying (children) a pool - find them some other hobbies like riding a bike, skateboarding - anything else that doesn’t involve water."
He nephew, 13-year-old Izik Rodriguez, died Friday. Gonzalez said she has been raising him as her son for the past year.
Family members said the boy suffered from depression and Attention Deficit Disorder, but are puzzled as to how he possibly drowned in such a shallow pool.
"When I checked-up on him, I found him face-down in the swimming pool, but I though he was playing holding his breath underwater," Gonzalez said. She quickly realized it was no joke, and started CPR until medics arrived.
Still it was too late, and the teen was dead. Gonzalez said the family was not prepared for the tragedy, emotionally or financially, and now find themselves struggling to afford a funeral.
"There's not enough income - it doesn’t matter how much - we can barely make it,” Gonzalez said. “You know, paying rent, paying bills, putting food on the table - so it's impossible to be able to get that money at the moment that we need it."
The family is hoping the community will respond to their cry for help to try to give Rodriguez a proper good-bye.
If you would like to help this family you can contact Gloria Gonzalez at 956-832-05-55, or e-mail her at gudino@yahoo.com
TV Station Profiles & Public Inspection Files forKGBT