Kallie Breeze Bligen loved to sing. She loved to dance and play dress up with her sisters.
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Kallie, 5, a non-verbal child with autism, could communicate through song.
Her life was cut short on October 3, 2025, when she drowned in the water behind her townhome in Oakland Park, and barriers, her parents put in place on the doors to the home.
Her father, Kayshawn Bligen, found her first.
“No hesitation, no thought, I jumped into the water and grabbed her, put her on the ground and started giving her CPR ’til paramedics showed up,” said Bligen.
“I would hate for my worst enemy to be put in a position where me and my family are right now,” said Jasmine Kessler, Kallie’s mother.
The family started the Kallie Breeze Foundation when Kallie was first diagnosed with autism. Intent on turning their pain into purpose, they’re now focused on supporting families who care for children with autism.
“We’re out here helping provide resources for these families, giving out sensory toys and things children need the parents might not be able to get immediately,” Bligen explained.
They also push for increased safety measures around Florida’s many bodies of water.
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“There are laws already in place that if these ponds and stormwater management systems aren’t maintained properly and they become too steep, a fence has to be put up or a barrier,” said Adam Frankel, the family’s attorney.
Kallie’s mother Jasmine is still trying to grasp her grief, while celebrating the joy her daughter brings to the world even now.
“She is the voice for the voiceless and there are other children like her that should be seen even if they can’t be heard,” said Kessler.
According to the National Autism Association, children with autism are 160 times as likely to drown as the general pediatric population.
The Florida Department of Children and Families reports 92 children have drowned in Florida so far this year. Water safety advocates fear Florida could surpass the record number of child drownings set in 2025, of 120.
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