Kylee's guardian angel

Ten-year-old Kylee Porter, a member of the Washington Community Y Water Sharks swimming team, was thrashing through the water during a meet at the Stoney Point Y in Cedar Rapids earlier this year when something suddenly went wrong.

She unexpectedly stopped swimming and sank to the bottom of the pool like a stone.

?It was kind of a scary thing,? said swimming coach Brenda Adrian. ?I?ve never seen a small child stop swimming, roll over and curl up into the fetal position. At first, we thought maybe she was having a seizure.?

Adrian quickly yelled out to her 16-year-old daughter Mackenzie, another member of the swim team who was poolside helping cheer on the younger swimmers, to jump in and save Porter.

?Everybody was screaming. Everybody was cheering. I was standing there telling her to kick, and then all of a sudden she just went down,? Mackenzie said. ?My mom yelled, ?Go,? so I jumped in.?

With her towel and clothes still on, Mackenzie dived into the pool and quickly pulled Porter out of the pool.

?Kenzie has been the dummy, the drowning victim, for their lifeguarding classes in the summer,? Brenda Adrian said. ?So that gave her that much knowledge on what to do.?

Once Porter was pulled out of the water, she started breathing again and regained consciousness. But she had no recollection of what happened.

?I started my race, and I was doing backstroke. Then the next thing I knew I was laying down on the floor and a whole bunch of people were around me,? Porter said. ?I didn?t know what happened.?

Porter, daughter of Steve and Tammy Porter, was taken to St. Luke?s Hospital, where doctors discovered that she has a heart rhythm disorder called long QT syndrome. The genetic disorder can cause palpitations, fainting and even sudden death when provoked, and has kept Kylee from participating in swimming or any physical activity since the incident even though she?s on medication to keep her heart rate down.

?They don?t want her to get her heart rate up, because if she exerts herself that can cause her to faint,? Tammy said.

That?s kept Kylee from finishing her first year on the Water Sharks swimming team and may keep her out of future sports.

?I?m very active,? Kylee added. ?I do softball and swim team and soccer sometimes.?

Since Mackenzie pulled Kylee from the pool, the two have become good friends. Kylee has gone to the Adrians? house for a sleepover.

?They knew each other a little bit before, but they weren?t that close. Not as close as they are now,? Tammy said. ?Kenzie and her have spent a lot of time together since then.?

Kylee wouldn?t say it, but she views Mackenzie as her hero.

?I think Kylee is very grateful for Kenzie,? Tammy said. ?She just doesn?t know what words to say.?

Everyone involved is grateful for Mackenzie?s actions.

?We just thank the Good Lord every day that Mackenzie was there,? Brenda said.