A recent news story about the death of a 4-year-old boy has already saved the life of another child.

One of my favorite activities as a kid was swimming. My neighbors had a pool and we would spend hours and hours in there, not coming out until our fingers and toes looked like prunes. I know there are lots of kids out there who love swimming as much as I did, but parents need to be careful because there are some little known dangers that can follow your kids out of the water.

Last week, a story came out about a 4-year-old boy from Texas named Francisco Delgado III. A week after going swimming, Frankie passed away from "secondary drowning," or as many stories are calling it, "dry drowning." Many times these conditions are used interchangeably, but they are actually different things. According to Parents.com, dry drowning is when, "someone takes in a small amount of water through his or her nose and/or mouth, and it causes a spasm in the airway, causing it to close up." This typically happens shortly after the child exits the water. Secondary drowning is when, "the little bit of water gets into the lungs and causes inflammation or swelling that makes it difficult or impossible for the body to transfer oxygen to carbon dioxide and vice versa." This particular condition can take up to 24-hours to start showing symptoms. Those symptoms include "persistent coughing, shortness of breath, chest pain, lethargy, fever and an unusual mood change," according to CNN. In Frankie's case, he was also experiencing vomiting.

Now the good news is, these conditions are considered to be rare, and you WILL see warning signs. That's what happened in the case of 2-year-old Gio Vega. His dad had heard about Frankie's story, and noticed that his son was showing similar symptoms. He took Gio to the hospital, and ABC Local 10 reports, "doctors told him his son would not have made it through the night without his quick response." Thankfully, he made it just in time.

To read more about dry drowning and secondary drowning and prevention, click HERE.

More From 94.1 KRNA