‘Never imagined:’ Child who drowned at local swim beach identified

NEW FRANKLIN , Ohio (WJW) – A child that officials said drowned at the Portage Lakes State Park has been identified, and his family’s church has launched a fundraiser in an effort to support them through the “unexpected financial hardship of their loss.”

The Summit County Medical Examiner identified the child as 6-year-old Sebastian Johnson. The child’s cause of death was ruled a drowning, according to the medical examiner.

According to a fundraising page organized by Our Mother’s Hands ministry , the body of Wayne and Maria Johnson’s son was recovered from the Portage Lakes on Friday, Aug. 30 after the child went missing during an end-of-summer outing to the swim beach.

“While it was believed that the child was not in the water, fire personnel, along with the assistance of volunteers, initiated a human chain to search and clear the swim water,” read a press release from the New Franklin Fire Department. “

That’s when the child was found in approximately four feet of water, officials said.

“Resuscitation efforts were immediately initiated, and the child was transported to Summa Barberton Hospital. Unfortunately, the child did not survive,” stated the release. “Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family at this time.”

“We need to keep them surrounded in prayer, not just today as they awaken to a life without their beloved child, but throughout the coming days as they go through the necessary motions of planning a funeral they never imagined, nor should ever have contemplated as a reality,” read the fundraising page.

CLICK HERE to learn more and to make a donation.

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