Parents Issue Warning After Son's Swim In Pyramid Lake

PYRAMID LAKE (CBSLA.com) — A family has a warning for others after their son had a bad reaction after swimming in Pyramid Lake.

Fifteen-month-old Parker Nguyen's parents had no idea last Sunday's visit to Pyramid Lake near Castaic could make the boy sick.

Jenny Nguyen brought her GoPro camera into the lake to video her son. When she put it underwater, she saw algae floating past the lens.

Fifteen minutes later, there was a medical emergency. Parker was covered in welts, his lips were blue and he was having trouble breathing. His parents called 911.

"From the sheriff and the lifeguard and the staff at the lake itself, they knew what it was," the family's attorney, Alexander Napolin, said. "They suspected it was the blue-green algae and the toxin and they said they would never allow their children to swim in the lake."

Parker has a peanut allergy. At first, his parents thought he ate something, but they quickly ruled that out. They didn't know the area had been closed to swimming 10 days earlier because of a blue-green algae bloom.

The warning was downgraded in mid-July. Officials from the California Department of Water Resources say signs are up at the park entrance and the lifeguard tower cautioning people about toxic algae in the lake.

They claim they never saw any signs of the algae.

"They would not have been in that water," Napolin said. "That is their position on the matter and they want the public to know so other parents and children are not affected by this because this could have been a fatal incident."