A tragic accident has left a family with six children without their father, Lee Dingle, who was a 37-year-old man from North Carolina.
The engineer, who was described by many as a family man, had been playing in the water with several of his kids when a massive wave suddenly hit him and took him by surprise.
The wave was so strong that Dingle reportedly hit his head on the sand and had his neck broken. It did not take long before he lost consciousness from oxygen deprivation as he was unable to breathe.
Dingle’s family rushed to help him, but in vain — and despite the help of others, he could not be saved at the scene. He died the next day.
The man’s wife, Shannon Dingle, a popular Christian blogger, has expressed her sadness in reports to the media, explaining how she could not believe that she was playing with him one moment, and the next, he was gone.
She stated: “An intense wave hit him just right to slam his head into the sand and break his neck, my partner, my love, and my home. Some heroes — including our kids — tried to save him, but it wouldn’t have mattered what they did. His body couldn’t recover from the initial injury.”
Shannon also wrote this about the freak accident that took the man she met as a teenager: “An intense wave hit him just right to slam his head into the sand, break his neck, and make his throat swell so much his brain was deprived of oxygen for too long to recover. Some heroes — including our kids — tried to save him, but it wouldn’t have mattered what they did. His body couldn’t recover from the initial injury.”
The couple had been very active in adopting children from foreign countries, as three of their kids had been adopted from Uganda.
They are also parenting a girl from Taiwan who is suffering from cerebral palsy, while they also have two of their biological kids. This has painted the situation in an even more tragic light for some.
There have been questions regarding the family’s ability to cope with the situation after the man’s death.
A GoFundMe page was quickly set up to help cover the various costs related to the incident, most notably the funeral, and it was able to raise over $300,000.
It is not known if the family is set to receive any additional support in the future, although many have expressed their desire to contribute to something like that.
Dingle donated his organs after his death, and this could save up to 75 lives.
