testimonials
Many years ago I
attended our Annual Church Picnic for Grace United Church @ Pearce Williams. A
lovely woman Velma Murphy sat down to chat with me there. She told me that she
and her family were at a cottage where she and her husband Bill, son Larry,
daughter-in-law Marlene were relaxing by the dock chatting. They had put the 3
boys Darryl, and twins Brian and Michael down for a nap. At one point they
noticed some splashing off the dock and thought there were birds in the water.
Then they say a little hand grasping the dock. They ran over and there was 6
year old Darryl in the water. They were SHOCKED as they thought he was resting.
He told them he had fallen in the water and was drowning and that he heard my
voice (Joy) in his head telling him to look for safety. While she was recalling
this story to me we both had tears in our eyes and realized how powerful this
story was. She was grateful for what I had taught him and I was grateful that he
had received the
message. I am a firm believer that everyone should learn how to swim. Even if it
is only enough that if you ever fall into water you can save yourself. You are
never
too old to learn to swim!
On March 29th,
2007, my husband, 1year old daughter and 6 year old son George went for a family
walk on our property at around 4:30pm. My son wanted to play mini-sticks on the
ice with his baby sister for the first time. My husband and I did our regular
checks ---there were no signs of wetness or weakness. George ran ahead and
started chasing the puck around. My husband and I with Ruby followed behind.
We stopped and began to have a conversation. After about 5 minutes my husband
broke through the ice of the 41/2 meter pond, then I did then I reached for Ruby
as she was going down. In a panic, I started to scream for George to come
help. Ruby and I kept going under. My muscles felt paralyzed and it was very
difficult to tread water and hold her up. My husband kept encouraging me to
keep talking to him and stay calm (he was about 15 feet away but it felt and
sounded like miles. This helped me to calm down and finally my brain started to
work again. It flashed in my head the lesson Joy taught (our swimming
instructor) of just focusing on keeping your little one’s face out of the
water. I set her on her back, (my arms underneath along her body- she wouldn’t
float, but it was much more manageable). When I could muster up the strength I
would use her weight to break the ice and I would continue treading toward the
shore. Incidentally, the pond is a drastic drop to it’s depth from the shoreline
but the dogwood growing and the willows hanging down gave me hope in our 25-30
foot trek. I thought if I could just make it to the dogwood it would buy me 5-8
feet. Finally I got Ruby on the shoreline, it took me a little longer to
slither myself out and then to stand and walk. Thank God George didn’t come to
help when I screamed for him. He recalled Joy’s lesson of going for help when
people fall through the ice-NOT TO TRY AND SAVE THEM YOURSELF. Unbeknownst to
me, once he got to the house which is quite a distance away and on a slight hill
he called 911 and went to the big picture window and would wave to husband who
was trapped in the ice which helped him remain calm so he could coach me. From
the time the call was placed Ruby and I spent over 15 minutes in the water---It
took me quite some time before I could stand up and walk once I got out of the
water. My husband was rescued by the OPP and Central Elgin Fire Department
after spending over 1/2hour in the pond. Ambulance arrived and we were treated
for hypothermia for about 6-7 hours in hospital.
George received a
citation for lifesaving from Julian Fantino at an OPP awards ceremony last
fall. We are so proud.
Michelle Denniss
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