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The sun beat down and the
wind kicked up the waves at Perdido Key, FL, as five family members in town for
a reunion hit the surf in search of relief from the scorching afternoon heat on
May 13th, 2010. Shaun, Leah, and Allison O’Grady, all siblings between the ages
of 24 and 32, along with their cousins Matt and Ashley Morris, 24 and 26,
headed out into the ocean equipped with a large inflatable raft for what they
thought would be a fun, leisurely ride. But they were in for an unpleasant
surprise.
On the surface, the water
seemed calm and tranquil that day, so they all climbed into the raft and headed
out to sea, sitting with their backs together and their feet dangling into the
water. Every time they took the raft out into the surf, they got washed back to
shore, laughing and spinning around in the ocean.
But as the family continued
to play in the waves, Leah started to notice that they were getting further and
further from shore. However, they were all still having fun and decided not to
worry about their growing distance from the beach. “I didn’t think anything of
what Leah said,” Shaun remembered. “I just figured we’d have more time in the surf and everyone would get
to ride longer.”
Then, when a large wave
knocked Ashley and Shaun off the raft, Ashley hit her head and decided to swim
to shore. She made it to the beach safely, but her family members decided to stay
out in the water, a decision that they would later regret.
A strong rip current had
begun to brew beneath the raft, and as it grabbed hold of them, the four
remaining family members noticed that they seemed to be drifting even further
out to sea. They decided that it was time to go in, and everyone started
kicking towards the shore, but they quickly found that they weren’t getting
anywhere. Just as they began to get worried, a wave came and washed everyone
off the raft.
“We were all knocked off, and
as soon as I got above the water I didn’t see the raft and I didn’t see my
cousin Matt,” Shaun said. “But thankfully I saw my two sisters Leah and
Allison.” Shaun and his sisters made it back to the water’s surface, but then
were immediately pummeled by a barrage of waves. “Every time we would get hit
by a wave, we’d come to the surface, catch a breath, and then another wave
would hit us,” he said. “We had floated out pretty far too, maybe 75 to 100
yards.”
Looking over at Leah, Shaun began
to realize just how serious the situation was. “When I saw that look of panic
in her face, I started to get worried too,” he said.
So, acting quickly, he
instructed his sisters to swim on their backs to conserve energy, and as they
all tried to make their way towards the beach, they still couldn’t find their
cousin Matt. But luckily, he had somehow managed to stay with the raft and was
on his way to rescue them.
Matt Morris, a Coast Guard
Petty Officer 3rd Class and aviation maintenance technician with Air Station Kodiak,
kept hold of the raft despite being knocked off repeatedly, and when he finally
spotted his cousins, about 50 yards further out, he quickly paddled over. “As
soon as I got to them, they grabbed the raft, but Leah was panicking and Allison
had to shed some clothes just so she could tread water better,” Matt said.
Luckily, he was well
prepared to deal with the situation thanks to his time with the Coast Guard. “I
think my training helped me keep my head together,” Matt said. “I realized the task at hand and kept
everyone else calm so we could work together.” Once the family stopped
panicking and joined forces, they were able to paddle the raft to shore with
the current after about a half hour of struggling.
Exhausted, but safe on the
beach at last, it finally hit them that their situation could have been fatal.
Later, they learned that local lifeguards had put up a double red flag riptide
warning and that a 22-year-old man had drowned that day just a little further
down the beach. “That put it into perspective how lucky we were,” Shaun said. “Matt
definitely saved us.”
The entire family agreed
that they owe their survival to the quick thinking of their cousin Matt. “We
are all alive today because of him,” Shaun said. “We’re so thankful.”
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