Parents from South Carolina are warning families about the dangers of brain-eating amoeba lurking in warm bodies of water.

Their 12-year-old son died after contracting the rare amoeba while spending the Fourth of July swimming and boating on a lake.

Jaysen Carr’s parents described their son as an honor student, multi-sport athlete, and a great role model.

"He just wanted to smile and wanted everyone else in the world to do the same thing,” Clarence Carr said of his son. “He should still be here, and there's absolutely no excuse why he shouldn't be.”

According to the CDC’s fact sheet on the rare brain-eating amoeba called Naegleria Fowleri , “Of 154 people known to be infected in the U.S. from 1962 to 2021, only four people survived."

“Anywhere where you have warm, still fresh water,

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