“It didn’t matter that we were literally right there. It was just a hole. And there’s nothing,” Therese Mattingly recalled, describing the moment the hole caved in on Sloane and her son Maddox as “chaos and horror.”
The parents of a young girl who died after a sand hole collapsed on top of her during a family vacation in Florida are speaking out about the beach tragedy for the first time.
In an interview with Good Morning America, which aired on Thursday, the 7-year-old girl’s parents — Therese and Jason Mattingly — opened up about the horrific accident that took their daughter Sloan’s life last month.
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While speaking to ABC News correspondent Erielle Reshetf from her and Jason’s home in Fort Wayne, Indiana, Therese said, “We’re the people that other parents or family members kind of roll their eyes at because we’re a little overprotective most of the time and think of everything. When we go to the beach, we think of water safety. And this never, ever once crossed my mind.”
Last month, the family was having the “perfect” beach at a Lauderdale-by-the-Sea beach. Sloan and her brother, Maddox, 9, were digging a hole in the sand when the hole suddenly collapsed on both of them, with Sloan getting buried under the brother.
“It’s kind of a blur, and it’s probably maybe in my mind protecting itself, but it just happened so fast,” Jason said. “And in my mind, I had her in my hands, but the weight of the sand was too much.”
“It didn’t matter that we were literally right there,” Therese said, tearing up. “It was just a hole, and then there’s nothing. And then it just became chaos and horror.”
The couple said beachgoers ran over to help dig, and several called 911. Therese shared that one woman was a nurse, noting that she stayed with Maddox after they got him out, and she continued digging as she tried to get her daughter out.
After they eventually pulled Sloan out, they rushed her to a hospital, but she didn’t make it. “Everyone tried their hardest. And unfortunately, it didn’t work out in our favor,” Jason said.
Jason told ABC News that Sloan, who was in the first grade, described his daughter as a “beam of light” and full of “joy.”
“She would come out in the morning and she would fist pump you right out of bed,” he said.
As for how Maddox is holding up following the tragic loss of his sister, Therese said, “I think he’s holding a lot in. There’s a lot of things we have in motion to help him with that and to help us help him.”
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Jason added, “I think he’ll always be a little different now, but we’re willing to do whatever we need to do to make sure he has the help to kind of process this and move forward with Sloan in his heart.”
By sharing their story, the parents said they hope it will create change to prevent similar tragedies from happening in the future.
“If we can do anything to save another family from going through this — whether that’s signage, beach patrol, and strangers, if you see something that’s dangerous, take the courage and say something,” Jason told ABC.
Lauderdale-by-the-Sea mayor Chris Vincent expressed his condolences in a statement shared with ABC News.
“First and foremost, our heavy hearts remain with Sloan’s family,” he said. “As a father myself, I can’t fathom what they are going through. I want to thank them for staying in contact with us as we develop a national public safety campaign in Sloan’s memory. We will share it with as many coastal communities as possible to help prevent another unimaginable tragedy. We’re also discussing how we monitor our beach, a local Ordinance to ban digging on our beach, and the best way to honor Sloan.”
