I was swimming in a lake with my then eight year old boy. We were starting the 320 metre/350 yard return journey from the dam to the western end of the reservoir when I saw my stepfather enter the water to swim. As we neared him I thought he was lying on his back, floating, but soon realized he was moving only in the slight eddy, and was face down in the water. I yelled for help, instructed my little boy to leave the water by the shortest route, and swam rapidly to my stepfather’s assistance. I rolled him onto his back, and used the recovery method to swim with him to the edge of the lake.
Thankfully there was a man passing with his wife, and a mobile telephone. He assisted me in extricating my stepfather from the water. After pulling him out of the water, I was unable to see any signs of self-sustained breathing, so I immediately began CPR and mouth to mouth resuscitation. I was concerned whilst giving CPR of the sound of cracking, and thought I had broken/cracked his ribs. I then turned him onto his left side to aid in water egress from his mouth, as he recovered consciousness.
A telephone call had been placed during the “excitement” and soon after my stepfather started to come around, the Municipal Police arrived to take notes. It was some 15 minutes or more after that the ambulance arrived. My stepfather was able to speak to me by the time the professionals arrived, and asked what had happened. Being aware of his age (71) and the likely onset of shock, I refrained from telling him what occurred, other than there had been “a bit of a flap”.
He was evacuated to hospital where he spent several days undergoing tests for the cause of his accident. Absolutely nothing was found to be wrong with him, other than the scratches sustained in removing him from the water, up the rocks, and onto the road, which although appeared bad, were trivial.
Looking critically at my actions, I was hasty in starting CPR, as I don’t remember checking for signs of life. The deep, angry purple/blue color of my stepfather’s head was enough to spur me into action immediately. Thanks to my training with instructor Simon Hoekstra (EFR Instructor – 969857), from Phuket, Thailand, my stepfather is alive.
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