Wanda Butts lost her teenage son in a drowning accident six years ago, and ever since then she has been working to change a troubling statistic.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, African-American children between the ages of 5 and 14 drown at a rate almost three times higher than white children in the same age range.
Since 2007, Butts and her nonprofit, the Josh Project, have helped nearly 1,200 children -- most of them minorities -- learn how to swim.
CNN asked Butts for her thoughts on being chosen as one of the top 10 CNN Heroes of 2012.
Pictured: Wanda Butts (left) and her daughter Tankeeya Butts of the Josh Project.
