Colt Walker Catalina was born on January 18, 2008 to the parents of John and Natalie and little brother to Mackenzie and Presley. He was a vibrant toddler, the love of everyone who knew him, and the apple of his mother’s eye. He was loving, adventurous, and an absolute sweetheart. Always laughing, full of joy and life, he never met a stranger. He had a contagious winning smile and personality so special and distinctly him.
He loved his cowboy hat, boots and his John Deere cap, but most of all his favorite thing was baseball.
On Sunday, March 21, 2010, John and Natalie’s lives were shattered into a million pieces when they got a phone call no parent wants to receive. Colt was in the care of a relative when he slipped away unnoticed and was later found in the backyard pool. A helicopter rushed him to a near by hospital, but doctors were unable to revive him. He had just turned 2 years old when his life was cut short from an accident that could have been prevented. Madison Marchegiano, a family-friend founded the Colt Catalina Foundation for one thing and one thing only: to prevent this tragedy from happening to another family.
The Colt Catalina Foundation raises awareness for Drowning Prevention & Child Safety. Drowning is the leading cause of death in children ages 1-4. Our goal is to educate the public on the importance of water safety. We provide Infant Aquatics® swim lesson scholarships around the U.S to those in financial need. Infant Aquatics® is the second largest survival swim program in the world and we are proud to be partnered with them and be their top sponsor.
In addition, we advocate parents take the needed steps to prevent childhood drownings such as simple layers of protection like supervision, pool fences, pool/window/door alarms. Most importantly, we urge parents everywhere to enroll their child/children in survival swim lessons with the hope that they can avoid becoming yet another sobering statistic.
Our mission is to prevent another drowning so that no other family has to suffer the unimaginable pain Colt’s family has endured. Colt is terribly and painfully missed…a pain that does not dull…never goes away. For more information on the Colt Catalina Foundation, please visit: https://cwcfoundation.wixsite.com/coltcatalina
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