My Uncle Keith wrote this today. It speaks for itself. Just goes to show…you don’t need superpowers to be a hero. Humanity is the only prerequisite.
-J
Late this afternoon Jeff, camping a few sites down from us on Long Key campground got a call from Cris that a man was in distress about 1/2 to 3/4 mile out in the ocean. The person had apparently capsized and was waving a paddle for help. We had had strong winds gusting to 50 miles per hr. and offshore waves were quite large. Jeff went for his zodiac and soon had it in the water headed out to sea. Jeff hadn’t sighted the person himself, but was going on the word of the person on shore who had alerted Cris. Jeff had lost the shifter from his Mariner motor and so was shifting it by hand and was also low on gas but didn’t hesitate to attempt the rescue. Meanwhile, the girls and I put our boat in and mounted the motor on it. I had had it out for cleaning and a little repair. I pumped it up and Josh and Allison put the motor on and Allison and I took off as well.
Jeff ended up thinking the person was out a lot further than he actually was, and overshot the mark and kept going out into the deeper water alone. Allison and I could see the location of the small boat and headed off Jeff’s course and found an elderly man in a mostly sunken portable boat with a small outboard motor that was under water and the gas can was floating off. Allison and I each grabbed on to the man and pulled him on board. He was exhausted and close to giving up entirely. He was also hypoglycemic as we later found out and had run out of sugar. Jessica had thrown in a couple towels which we covered him with as he lay on the floor of the boat. We had tied on to the prow of his boat and began towing it in with us, but then we let the boat go and determined to go get it later and took the man to shore. Underway, the man seemed to slip in and out of consciousness a couple of times. We got the man in so that the people waiting on shore were able to tend to him. They had an ambulance he went into where they took his blood pressure, etc and determined he would be OK. He revived fully once he got warmed and d rank some hot chocolate.
Jessica and I and Allison went out and met Jeff and all 4 of us got his boat and motor towed in after some effort. Jeff had come back in but had ventured almost out of sight looking for the person.
Later, we all got together in our 5th wheel; the man, his brother and sister-in-law, Jeff and all of us and talked it all over. He told the story then from his point of view, how he had some hope when Jeff passed him, then gave up. Then he said the next thing he saw was Allison’s face and he realized he would be safe.
The whole experience has been quite sobering.
The ocean is always a force to be reckoned with but when you see a man about to be lost it really makes an impression. I plan to revamp my approach to boating, including a cell phone on every trip in a waterproof case for one thing. Also the safety of having two boats out on any long trip is almost a must.
I don’t want to scare any of you or have you worry too much. It is great to be on our end of an episode like this. Allison performed well taking care of the man while on board and has been very impressed with the aspect of lifesaving from a nursing point of view and it may prove influential in that regard. Jeff has impressed me with his selfless courage and tenacity in this situation as well. I wish, in a way, that you could have all seen this happen, to see the way the kids responded and the face of the rescued man after words just overflowing with thanks and almost unable to leave Allison’s side. It is all very revealing of our human nature and we are very thankfull for God’s goodness in all things.
Written By Keith Nikkel Based on True Events that occurred on January 2, 2008
