A heartbroken mother and father have described how the "bottom of our world fell out" after their young son drowned during the last catastrophic heatwave. Michael Swift and Suzie Gough have broken their silence to plead with families to stay away from open water following the death of their 11-year-old son, whom they described as their 'little rock' and 'sensitive soul'. They told the Mirror that they never imagined their son Mackenzie would go near a river. However, during the blistering heatwave, Mackenzie, known as 'Kenzie', stopped playing outside and cycled with a friend to a river just a mile away. He left his bike at an area called 'Pebble Beach', removed his shoes and top, and entered the water despite not being able to swim.
His grieving parents, Michael, 46, and Suzie, 48, from Mexborough in South Yorkshire, are now pleading with other children: "Please keep out of open water." They spoke for the first time since the tragedy to support the Mirror's 'Save Lives for Sam' water safety campaign. "We are desperate to stop other families having to go through heartbreak like this," they said.
Michael addressed a message to other children: "Please don't do it to your parents because this has broken me. I had to go and identify Kenzie's body. It was like he was asleep and would not wake up. I told him I loved him and he was with his nannan and grandad now. I don't want anyone to go through what we've had to go through with Kenzie." During the last week of May, Mackenzie was one of 13 children who died; six more adults also drowned.
The Mirror, supported by bereaved families, charities, and Olympians, is calling for an immediate public awareness campaign ahead of summer, when more child deaths are feared. Mackenzie, who was in the process of being officially diagnosed with autism, had been shopping in Doncaster with his mum and little brother Carter on the Saturday he drowned. He had persuaded his mother to buy him a new tracksuit and later told his dad he 'owed his mum' the money for it.
Michael laughed, saying: "He was my cheeky little monkey." He explained that he has to laugh or he will cry. "And I'm scared to cry in case I can't stop. He was my little life saver and kept me going, even after my mum died. Now he will be forever 11," he said. Kenzie's mum Suzie described him as a "mummy's boy" who "loved his quiet time and only gave cuddles and kisses on his terms. I used to call him my sensitive soul and my munchkin. He was a sensitive boy who loved his quiet time and his night time phone calls" to his friends.
An inquest into Mackenzie's death opened and adjourned on Thursday. His body was released for the funeral. Michael told the Mirror he had been out fishing when he received a call from Mackenzie's mum saying the police were at her house and their son was missing. "I went to Suzie's and asked where the last time he was seen was and they said 'pebble beach'. My heart sank! I knew it well. I ran all the way there, it was a mile away and took me about ten minutes. Only when I got to the river though did I realise how serious it was because of how many police were there and that's when the bottom fell out of my world. The bottom fell out of our world."
He added: "We've been told his friend ran for help. He found a man on the bank who phoned 999. Kenzie's bike was on the pebbles along with his top and trainers." The family then faced an agonising three-day wait until Mackenzie's body was finally recovered on June 2. "That night I was on the bridge and spent the next two days out scouring the river banks." The River Don was searched by specialist teams, police divers, and family friends in boats. One of those was Michael's best friend Dale Coles, who waded out up to his neck searching for Mackenzie. But sadly, his body was eventually found just yards from where he first went missing, in the opposite direction of where the search was concentrated.
Michael has since returned to the scene several times and finds "calm" amidst the "devastation" as he walks along the bridge, which has been covered in tributes to his son. But as we walk with him, the father does not look at the balloons, solar lights, and images of Yoda, Mackenzie's favourite teddy bear, but instead stares down at the water below where his son's body was found. "It looks all calm but that dark water is deep and deadly," Michael warns. He explained how he took Carter, Mackenzie's eight-year-old brother, to the scene recently to see the tributes. "He said to me: 'It doesn't look dangerous dad.' So I put this stick near the bank and for a few feet you could feel the bottom and then this 6ft stick just vanished. You don't know what's underneath."
His brother Carter has been "powering on like a trooper". Michael asked him why he is being so strong, and he replied: "Because you and my mum were so strong." Michael added: "We used to go to this area as kids too. That beach is like a little oasis and the kids love it but there's no warnings, no safety equipment there. When I was a kid, I'd go canoeing in the canal nearby. I always knew the river was more dangerous. I never thought Kenzie would go near that water, we warned him anyway but he was unsure of the water."
As they walked to the spot where Mackenzie was found, his father pointed out the nearest safety ring, which is behind iron railings and out of sight on the canal running parallel. The only sign visible warned the public to pick up after their dog. "It doesn't matter whether he was found that night or the next morning, the outcome would have been the same but there would have been less heartache with the waiting. It was painful."
Dale and Natasha Coles, who have five children of their own, are like family to Michael and have been helping him cope, raising money for the funeral and arranging for any extra funds to go towards swimming lessons. During the search for Kenzie, Dale was also in a boat searching. "It was horrendous, it was horrible, the worst feeling is not being able to find him or fetch him home. I was saying I didn't think he was down this far. The police were further down searching than us. But I was relieved they'd found him, it didn't matter where he was, he was found. The main thing was to just get him home."
Natasha, 38, has written a water safety book 'Kenzie's big summer adventure' and is now trying to reach as many children as possible. "Whether a child swims or not, I hope this book will help get the message out either way. We don't want any more families to suffer like this. Seeing 19 people die in a week was unprecedented. I can't ever remember so many people losing their lives to the same thing in separate incidents. It's heartbreaking for me and I'm not his mum and dad. How they feel is impossible to imagine. I cannot bear to think about having a phone call from the police to say that they don't know where your baby is."
Michael added: "We want to thank Highwoods Academy for their support and help throughout. Dale and Tash for trying to help us make a difference and all those who worked on the memorial bridge which gave the family such comfort including Bryonie Whittingham and Tom Javens, Sam Tingle, Kelly Wilson and Lacie Dunn. We were overwhelmed with all the love and support shown by all our friends and family. From the searches to the donations to making a difference and keep his memory going."
