['I almost drowned when I was little.  I was more embarrassed than scared to be honest', 'That sounds horrible!  Good thing you are all right and only walked away with a little shame!', 'It was big shame haha but I took swimming lessons after and ended up on the swim team...so it worked itself out']
That's good.  It could have been a lot worse!
When I was a little kid I almost drowned in front of 100 people.  I was more embarrassed than scared to be honest