Dramatic rescue: Boy revived after being sucked out to sea!

I just found this story completely amazing. I thought the photos were great and just shows that somehow someway miracles do happen. Great to hear a happy ending of this.

Last Friday afternoon a large church youth group from Spanaway was visiting the beach off the Cranberry Beach approach in Long Beach, WA.

Shannon Kissel and his daughter Nicole were boogie-boarding nearby when they saw two boys were in need of help. While they were able to retrieve one boy, they were not able to rescue Dale Ostrander, who was caught in a rip tide. It was about 10 minutes until the surf rescue team was on scene.

Twenty-plus kids from the youth group sobbed uncontrollably and prayed on the sand during the search, a truly heart-wrenching sound. It was then at least another 15 minutes or so before rescue swimmer Eduardo Mendez spotted Ostrander, and he and swimmer Will Green were able to grab him and pull him aboard a jet ski.

Seconds later at the shore, Doug Knutzen carried him up to where paramedics were waiting to treat him. They were on the beach for another 10 minutes trying to revive him. I think it's safe to say that everyone was certain Ostrander was dead. But the crew continued to work on him, and apparently once they got to the hospital they were able to get a weak pulse and get him breathing again.

Ostrander was air-lifted to Portland for treatment. After he was put in an induced coma for a couple days, he woke up.

And today (Aug. 9) they removed his breathing tube. Not only did Ostrander breath on his own, but he spoke complete sentences. Amazing. This boy was dead for upward of 20 minutes, easily.

Entire story can be read here

hi op
thats a great piece of news
took my mind away from the riots for 10 mins
cheers
dave

Originally posted by davesmart
hi op
thats a great piece of news
took my mind away from the riots for 10 mins
cheers
dave

Thanks Dave. Are you in London? Such terrible news going on over there. Hope everything gets better soon.

reply to post by pacofunk64


hi
no not in london
im near birmingham where the riots have spread
just hoping it doesnt escalate to our area
cheers m8
dave

While I'm glad the boy seems to be OK, none of this is suprising.

There was probably two factors contributing to this boy's survival. Hypothermia and Malmalian Diving Reflex. Wikipedia has an excellant explaination for MDR.

en.wikipedia.org...

People have been known to survive underwater for up to 4 hours and recover fully due to hypothermia.

The best part was when they first found the boy he had a fish bowl on his head with beautiful etchings saying,

"So long, and thanks for all the fish"

Cold Water Drowning.
Always start CPR even though the person has been down for a time.
www2.gi.alaska.edu...
www.sportfishermen.com...

There not dead till they are Warm and Dead.

This was a miracle to 1 as he was said on the local news to of been submerged for 20 minutes. Happy he made it.

reply to post by pacofunk64


This is a beautiful story. Thank you for posting it. It increased my faith. I needed to read this at this time. Thank you again.

Originally posted by ANNED
Cold Water Drowning.
Always start CPR even though the person has been down for a time.
www2.gi.alaska.edu...
www.sportfishermen.com...

There not dead till they are Warm and Dead.

Nice post. Good links.

One thing to remember, do not warm the victim unless told to do so by trained medics. Many times warming leads to an abnormal heart beat rhythm and needs specialized care and equipment.