CNN Heroes Top 10: Wanda Butts

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.

CNN: What was the reaction when you found out you were a top 10 CNN Hero?

Wanda Butts: Shock and unbelief! I was thinking that this could not be happening to me, just as I felt back on August 6, 2006, when I was told that Josh had drowned.

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