The mum of a little boy who drowned after going for a paddle in the hot weather, rested her hand over his heart as it stopped beating. She has now joined the Save Live for Sam campaign
After eight-year-old Josh Hillstead had his life support switched off, his mum rested her hand over his heart until it stopped beating.
Becky Hinde‘s son had been just one hour and 44 minutes away from his ninth birthday, and his presents were waiting back home for him to open. But tragically this “awesome” little boy died after going for a paddle in the River Arrow in Alcester on a summer’s evening dog walk. His sister, Caitlyn-Ann, then 10, had risked her own life to save him, jumping in to reach him.
But heartbreakingly he had slipped through her fingertips as they tried to get back to the bank together. Since then, Becky, 41, has been fighting to stop any other parents experiencing the same unbearable pain and has now joined the Mirror’s ‘Save Lives for Sam’ campaign, as she fears further deaths in the third heatwave.
Drowning in the UK has become an “epidemic” and a “national emergency”. Campaigners including the RNLI and Royal Life Saving Society UK have joined the Mirror to urge the Government to take urgent action.
Becky has now added her support and says: “When you hear about a heatwave coming, your heart is in your throat, the worst part is you are kind of waiting for the next tragedy to happen. People need to understand and recognise that water doesn’t care who you are, how big you are, how strong you are, it will take you.”
She recalls how she was at home in Birmingham, when she got a call from her son’s father, Carl, saying ‘Bec, I think Josh is dead.” The phone then went dead as he too had gone into the water to get his boy out.
The children had been staying with their dad for the weekend and had gone out with their step mum for a walk with the dog on July 23 2024. Leading up to the day, his dad had been teaching him to swim.
“They had gone for a walk and then for a paddle in the river but the undercurrent took him. Caitlyn, who is autistic, jumped straight in to try and get him. To me that’s the purest kind of love, she didn’t think about herself, she just tried to save her best mate, they were so close.
“She had him, she was holding his hand but then he got too tired and it was too hard and too much and then he slipped out of her fingers. It is heartbreaking, it must have been so awful for both of them. But I’m so proud of my little girl for doing that.”
Josh was in the water for around five minutes as several people tried to reach him.
A policeman, who arrived on the scene, also jumped into the river. “He was incredible and it’s really awful but I don’t know what his name is. He was given CPR and they got his heart restarted.”
She was called and told to get to Birmingham Children’s Hospital where they were taking him. The scared mum was joined by her brother Alastair and sister Miranda, for the drive to hospital until the police stopped them and she was blue-lighted to her son’s bedside.
“The policeman who arrived at the river and helped get him out of the river was still there soaking wet. He stood there with tears in his eyes and stayed with us for 12 hours, he was with us the whole entire night. He told me ‘I have a son the same age’.“They took Josh for a CT scan. He was having seizures and his lungs were bleeding. He was lying face down and the ventilator was almost shaking him, really forcing him to breathe. Birmingham Children’s hospital did everything they could. They were fantastic.”
At first Josh seemed to rally giving the family some hope. But then around 8pm they were told their son was having constant seizures.
“We then decided we had to let him go. I had to make the hardest decision I’ve ever had to make,” his mum told The Mirror. “They took me and his dad behind the curtains, they took him out of bed and put him onto us and they let him go. I had my hand on his heart as it stopped beating. Me and his dad just cuddled him and told him how much we loved him. “
She said they were given a “beautiful” box each, to take ink handprints and footprints of their son. Becky said for weeks she couldn’t go back home and stayed with her step-mum, finally plucking up the courage to return only to see his Sonic the Hedgehog jumper waiting to be washed, the last thing he wore to school before breaking up for the holidays.
His toys were still there ready for his birthday. She’d bought several Nerf guns, for Josh and his mates to play with in the woods. She grabbed some items to put with her son for his funeral, the champion wrestling belt from his dad and his Timberland boots.
Becky said: “Everyone else says their kids are the best but mine was. Josh was an awesome kid. I used to call him my sidekick, he was a real mumma’s boy and was really close to his dad as well. He was just such a lovely child, with a heart of gold, so much so his school put a kindness award in his name. He was such a joy, so so proud that I got to be his mum. But I’d give anything to have him back.”
Becky says she is now desperate to stop others experiencing the pain Josh’s family and friends suffered after “that one moment”. Recently his classmate Georgia Cuthbertson climbed Mount Snowdon last month in Josh’s memory and to raise money for Birmingham Children’s hospital.
“That was beautiful. This is two years later and you can see the love they have for Josh. I’m in absolute awe of this little girl, she climbed a mountain for my boy.
“If I can help people. I know my son dIdn’t die in vain. Parents need to be vigilant and people need to understand how dangerous it is. Grown adults have drowned as well. My little boy Joey is five and he loves water, I have to lock my bathroom as it frightens the life out of me.
“If Josh’s story can help anyone I’m okay with that, everyone thinks it will not happen to them and I sit there almost two years later and it happened to me in the worst way.
“You have that emptiness, I’m a mum without a son. It’s bitter, sweet. So much great has come from something so awful.”

source:https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/mum-boy-dies-drowning-water-37403078