Brad and I both have callings in the youth program in our ward- he works with the Priests and I work with the Beehives. We absolutely love it! This summer we have had the opportunity to join them on quite a few activities, one of which was the annual Float Trip on the American River. Although the American River is known for its rapids, this trip didn't involve any white water rafting... but that doesn't mean it didn't include unexpected excitement.
While we were waiting at the raft launch, before we had even gotten into the water, a 14 year old boy jumped from a bridge into the river. Lots of kids were doing the same, and no one really thought much of it at first. He wasn't from our group and so we weren't really watching him. Luckily for the boy, Brad and another guy from our group happened to look over and see that he was struggling to stay above water. Just a second later, he went under and didn't come back up. Brad and the other guy jumped into the river to help him. The boy was under for a good minute before his body literally ran into Brad's legs. He was wearing a black shirt and if he hadn't hit Brad, there was a good chance the men in the water (there was 4 at that time) would have missed him.
In the meantime, I was frantically trying to find a cell phone to call 911. Do you know how many people bring their cell phones on a river trip? Pretty much no one! Luckily for us, there was one man who had. I called 911 and explained our situation to the operator and tried to explain our location (can you believe she didn't know where the "raft launch" was? haha.)
When Brad pulled the boy out he was unconscious. Luckily two of the men that had jumped in were US Coast Guard and they were able to give him CPR and resuscitate him. The paramedics finally showed up and they life flighted the boy to the hospital and as far as we know, he was okay.
Word to the wise: Don't jump directly into the current of a shoulder-deep river, fully clothed-- especially if you aren't a strong swimmer!
What an adventure, and our trip hadn't even started yet! Brad was pretty shaken up for the next little bit, and for good reason- if he hadn't found the boy when he did, he would have been gone. Luckily that didn't happen and the story had a happy ending.
It took us about 3 hours to float down the river, which was basically a 3 hour water fight. People had super soakers, buckets, water balloons, etc. I don't know how it happened, but I ended up on the raft with the deacons and beehives. What was I thinking? Of course our raft was the one that the other 4 ganged up on, and we got absolutely drenched! At one point I was holding 3 oars and a super soaker (protecting them from the madness that was ensuing) and was pulled backwards head first into the water. Brad got an entire can of soda poured on his face, which I later learned was payback because he had done it first... way to set the example babe! We even had the water let out of our raft and got close to sinking a few times, but we made it through. Everyone was bruised, scratched, and sunburnt by the end, but it was an awesome adventure!
It's a good thing we love working (read: playing) with the youth as much as we do, because Saturday Brad will be celebrating his 25th birthday with them as we go down to Sunset Beach for an end-of-summer beach trip. Should be fun!
Sweet Cali
6 years ago
