The DTB Podcast, Presented by Bless Your Heart Nonprofit Corporation · The DTB Podcast

S3E5 - Nicole and Darby Bourgeois

·34 min·2 clips

After crabbing, the gate did not close, they jumped the fence, and CPR started at the pool.

The host opens with the story behind Riley John's Blue Boot Foundation. Darby and Nicole Bourgeois join the show as the parents of Riley John, who drowned in a neighbor's swimming pool just before his second birthday and died two days later. They explain that the foundation grew out of the wish that no other family should have to live through the same pain. The conversation moves from loss into action. Darby shares that he is from Galliana, Louisiana. Nicole and Darby describe how the foundation has focused on awareness, education, and saving lives. They talk about getting the message out to children, adults, and anyone around water. The host asks about the Blue Boot Rodeo, which has become one of the fastest-growing fishing rodeos in the state of Louisiana. Nicole explains that the event works because it turns community support into help for a cause people can rally around. Darby describes the foundation's wider aim to help local and statewide audiences. He says they want to grow and reach more people so they do not have to hear another story like Riley John's. The discussion connects childhood drowning to the broader reality of water danger in swimming pools, ponds, bayous, and open water. Darby points out that riptides are part of the local picture too, especially around places like Grand Isle. The couple emphasizes education over fear. They speak plainly about the need for swimming lessons and water awareness. The episode also notes encouraging signs, including zero drownings over the past two years, compared with six or seven before in Lafourche and Terre Mont Parish. That progress becomes part of the point: prevention can make a measurable difference. The host keeps the tone neighborly and conversational throughout. The result is an interview that moves from family grief to practical community care without losing its emotional center. It is as much about how a community takes responsibility as it is about one family's loss.

As heard by us

A local grief-to-action story that stays grounded in community, not slogans.

Nicole and Darby Bourgeois turn a family tragedy into plainspoken water-safety work, and it lands because the purpose never feels forced. The episode stays close to local life, from Bayou Lafourche to the Blue Boot Rodeo, and keeps returning to the same warning: drowning can…

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Why you'd press play

Press play for a Bayou Lafourche interview about grief turned into water-safety advocacy.

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