Steve Kemp may not have remembered the police officers and paramedics who were at his house yesterday, but his parents said they'll never forget them.

"We owe all these officers such a thanks, the fact they were there so quickly saved Stephen's life," said his mother Pat Kemp, a housewife.

Her 12-year-old son, who prefers to go by Steve, nearly drowned on Aug. 7 after being underwater in a pool of a private club for as long as five minutes, before his sister pulled him out of the water.

Police officers and Greenwich Emergency Medical Service Inc. paramedics visited the Kemp's house and brought Steve a gift - a lifejacket with sewn patches from the police department and GEMS, and handwritten messages from all the officers and paramedics involved in the rescue.

"Now that you survived ... Make each day count," wrote Lt. Richard Cochran, one of the first who arrived on the scene after the incident was reported around 7:15 p.m from The Field Club of Greenwich.

"I have an 11-year-old daughter, so it really hit home," said Cochran, who saw Steve for the first time since performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation on him after the near drowning. "It's always hardest when you're working with children, you never get used to it."

Cochran said he got everyone together yesterday so they could get some kind of closure from the accident.

"He's extremely lucky," he said of Steve. "Because of his youth he pulled through."

Steve was treated at Greenwich Hospital and then transported to the intensive care unit at Yale-New Haven Hospital, where he spent a little more than two weeks.

His father, Phil Kemp, said Steve has almost fully recovered from the accident.

"He's not yet at the finish line in terms of recovery, but he's made tremendous progress," said Kemp, who works in private equity.

Steve has a mark on his chest from the defibrillator, he said, which was used by the paramedics to get his heart beating again after he was pulled unconscious from the pool.

Paramedic Will Pendleton, who went with Steve to Yale-New Haven Hospital, said he was just happy it all finished with a happy ending.

"I think this is a call we will remember for the rest of our lives," he said.

Steve, who starts seventh grade today at Greenwich Country Day School, said he doesn't recall what happened.

"I don't remember anything until a couple of days after when I woke up," he said.

His sister Caroline, 15, said she remembers swimming in the pool with him and younger brother David, 8.

"We didn't know where Stephen was and then I saw him under the water," she said. "We thought he was just going to sneak up to David but he didn't, so I went down, pulled him up and yelled at the lifeguard."

Also present from the Police Department was Officer John Slusarz, who assisted Cochran with CPR. Officer Roger Drenth, who was also involved in the rescuing process, was unable to attend yesterday's event. Paramedic Doug Kilmartin and Paramedic Supervisor Scott Cluett were also at the Kemps' residence yesterday to present the gift.

Pat Kemp said she was so scared for her son, she couldn't describe the experience in words.

"It's such an awful feeling," she said, "I'm just glad it's all finished. It's a miracle, really, a miracle and a blessing."