Lynnfield twins’ mom recalls heartache

LYNNFIELD – Following the drowning deaths of her twin 2-year-old daughters last July, Crystal Andreottola received condolence cards from people around the world, including one from Steven and Trisha Vinci.Andreottola is now planning to send a card of her own to the Vincis, who lost their 4-year-old daughter, Sydney, to drowning on Monday.Andreottola sat on the front steps of her brick and stone Stagecoach Lane home Wednesday and talked about her loss and the comfort the Vincis and other well-wishers offered her.”I remember the name,” Andreottola said Wednesday as she discussed the Vincis’ loss and the lessons she learned in the months since her daughters’ deaths.District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett in a finding statement released in April called the Andreottola girls’ deaths “a tragedy in the truest sense of the word” and said the twins drowned after one of them managed to push a switch opening the pool cover.”If I’d known the girls could open the pool cover they would be here,” Andreottola said during Wednesday’s interview with The Item.Lynnfield Police Chief David Breen on Monday called Sydney Vinci’s death “a tragic accident” that will be jointly investigated by local police and Blodgett’s office.Andreottola plans to send Steven and Trisha Vinci and sons Michael, Kyle and Jake a condolence card and she will attend Sydney’s wake once funeral arrangements are complete.”I got cards from all over the world. It surprises you how people reach out,” she said, recalling the five-page letter she received from a Sharon woman who lost her 2 year old to drowning.Andreottola said the Vincis will initially feel guilt and the temptation to blame one another for their daughter’s death.”Blame is a big issue. You need to work through it with your spouse. They need to love one another and get through it together,” she said.She hopes the Vincis draw strength from their sons. Andreottola and her husband, Anthony, have an 18-month-old boy.Two town firefighters who rushed to Andreottola’s Stagecoach Lane home last summer responded with 10 colleagues and police officers to the emergency call concerning Sydney Vinci at 7 North Hill Drive Monday evening.Fire Chief Thomas Bogart said Capt. Glenn Davis and Lt. Keith Gauvreau along with police dispatcher Michael DiCorato are going through the multi-step debriefing and counseling process available to emergency responders who experience critical incident stress.”They are reacting to stress and part of it is due to what happened last year,” Bogart said.DiCorato, according to Police Chief David Breen, has a daughter about Sydney Vinci’s age. Breen praised DiCorato’s dispatch skills Monday evening as he talked the woman who made the emergency call from 5 North Hill Drive through resuscitation measures while sending emergency vehicles to the home.Bogart said call firefighter Jimmy Johnson lives near North Hill Drive and took over resuscitation efforts on Sydney Vinci from a family member three minutes after DiCorato received the emergency call. An ambulance reached the address four minutes after the call and arrived with the child at Union Hospital in Lynn 10 minutes later.”It was an all out response,” Bogart said.He said there is plenty of help and ongoing assistance for firefighters and police officers who, he said, “are just ordinary people responding to extraordinary incidents.””We have a sophisticated network to provide professional help,” he added.Crystal Andreottola said she has tried to stop asking ‘what if’ questions concerning her daughters’ deaths.”Not a day goes by I don’t break down 10 times a day,” she said.