Since 1998, 701 children have died due to heatstroke after being left or trapped in a hot vehicle. Think this tragedy can’t happen to you and your family? Ask Raelyn Balfour.
Raelyn had heard about heatstroke’s dangers. Like many of us, she chalked it up to irresponsible parents leaving children behind in vehicles. Then one morning, while feeling tired, overwhelmed, and distracted—feelings familiar to most parents with young children—she mistakenly thought she had already dropped her 9-month-old son, Bryce, at daycare before she continued on to her office. In reality, he was still in the back seat of her car. By the time she realized it, heatstroke had taken Bryce’s life.
You’re more like Raelyn and other parents who have lost a child to heatstroke than you might realize. The fact is that heatstroke tragedies happen to loving, caring, attentive parents. The vast majority of these tragedies happen when a child is mistakenly left behind in a vehicle or when an unattended child gains access to a vehicle.
