Bode Miller And Wife Morgan Beck Miller Sit Down For First Interview Since Daughter Emmy Drowned In June
It’s hard to believe that it has already been nearly two months since Olympian Bode Miller’s daughter lost her life in a freak drowning accident.
Since the death of their daughter, Emeline, Bode and his wife, Morgan Beck Miller, have shared a few Instagram posts to pay tribute to their child. But today, the Daily Mail shares that the couple opened up for the first time to Savannah Guthrie in an interview with the Today Show. Morgan says that the day that her daughter drowned started off like any other day would.
“It was a normal day. Every morning, the kids would go swimming and Bode would go swimming with them, and they’d be in there for hours. And they loved it,” Morgan said while also making a point to say that Emmy had no fear of water.
She was at their neighbor’s house, who she described as being like family to them, and she and her friend sat and visited while the kids played. Emmy kept running back and forth while Morgan was sipping tea and chatting. But all of the sudden, Morgan knew that something was wrong when it got too quiet. She then noticed that the screen door to the backyard was left open just a little bit and made the grim discovery of Emmy floating in the pool.
“My heart sank and I opened the door and she was floating in the pool. And I ran and I jumped in.”
Morgan then started to perform CPR when the neighbors called police. Initially, doctors thought that they may be able to revive Emmy at the hospital but she was deprived of oxygen too long and passed away when she arrived at the hospital. Bode was at a softball game with his oldest daughter when the drowning happened. Now the couple is looking to share their story with other parents in hopes that it can save other children from drowning, Morgan says.
“There is not a day that goes by and I don’t pray for an opportunity to go back to that day and make it different. But now we have this opportunity to make other parents’ days different.”
“It’s the number one way that you could potentially lose your kid. And if it’s number one for me, I want to know about it. I’ve been to all the pediatrician’s meetings and check-ups on our kids. And I can’t say it’s come up one time. Not a single time,” Bode said.
Bode and Morgan have also made changes to their own backyard, which also has a pool. Not only did they install a fence around their pool, they also enrolled their other children in drowning prevention classes. Morgan tearfully confessed that she lives with the guilt of losing her daughter every day but now she is way more aware of her surroundings when she’s at someone else’s house.
“Guilt is a very painful thing. And even though it’s awful and living with it is terrible, and I hope and pray and beg that it gets easier, I am now much more aware in that area to make sure it doesn’t ever happen again. When you go to someone else’s house, survey the home to see if it’s a safe place for your child to be,” Morgan says.
Morgan is expecting her second child with Bode Miller, he has two other children from a previous marriage. She says that Emmy was so excited to be a big sister and would walk around with a baby doll in her hand.
“And now we have the opportunity to get to love that baby not only for ourselves, but for Emmy,” she says of her baby on the way.
Hopefully, their tragic story can help save a few lives.