Yesterday was a terrible day, not so much for me, but more so for my best friend who suffers panic attacks in the water. We were on jet ski together wearing life vests. We picked a Friday afternoon (7-11-03 a day ill never forget) to go to Tucker town reservoir in NC, with not many people on the lake. We took turn turns riding the jet ski from the bank of the lake. My friend Robert flipped the jet ski and was 50 yards from me off shore. He grab the jet ski and was ok, but then I could observe his change. He leaned back let go of the jet ski and went into his panic mode(the last thing he said " I need help"!)
… When I got there he was passed out, not breathing with his face up in the water. I was so scared, we were
all alone. I also suffer from anxiety.. I prayed and my body when into action. I gave him mouth to mouth until he breathed on his own, his color started to come back. I knew I couldn't stay with the boat and had to make
it to shore so I pulled him with one hand and the other under his head keeping it out of the water, all the while kicking my feet and swimming and stopping. I stopped several times while swimming back to shore and gave him
more air and started some sort of CPR (can you believe it in the water?) His eyes were rolled back in his head and stopped breathing and depending on how hard I work on him he would go in and out of consciousness and his color would change.
Finally we reach shore and I was so scared. I forgot to pack the cell phone so this didn't help either.. I didn't know what to do except continuing to give him mouth to mouth and CPR until he came back and finally recognized me. When he was able to sit up on his own and I realized the event was nearly over and he was breathing on his own. I swam for the swamped jet ski, flipped it over and it managed to start. Somehow with the lords help we made it back to the dock. Robert didn't want me to call 911,so I gave him a choice of who I was to call, either 911 or his wife(who is a physicians assistant). We called her and she met us to check him out . So today my best friend is alive with a sore chest.
And today I share with you this story with a very sore body of my own. But the best thing is Robert is alive and I think we both realize maybe our jet skiing days are over. We are 46 years old and our daughters are best
friends..
In conclusion I was researching this disorder in order to better under yesterdays incident.. I wanted to share this someone and also try to learn about something i didn't understand.
Alive and Well in North Carolina,
Charlie
