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This week I've witnessed three people die. Two men drowned on Sunday. I jumped in but failed to get them out. They died less than a meter from me. On Thursday

by xupybd 5y ago

This week I've witnessed three people die. Two men drowned on Sunday. I jumped in but failed to get them out. They died less than a meter from me. On Thursday my father passed away from cancer. I was with him in his last breaths. Life is so fragile but it's going to end for all of us. Live as much as you can while you have health. Cherish the people in your life. We are but a vapor in the wind. I'm so thankful for my time so far, I'm thankful for my Dad and miss him so much. I'm so sad for the men that died. My hope for their family is that they can go on living without them.

ultramegachurch 5y ago
I'm deeply sorry for the loss of your father. Do you mind expanding on the story of watching the two men drown? I'm curious how you found yourself in that situation.
- xupybd 5y ago
  Sure, here is something I wrote in an earlier comment the day after it happened. "Yesterday we took our two dogs to the river for a walk. Two men got into trouble in the water, I jumped in to help. All I could do was help another man get free of one of the drowning men. The fellow rescuer couldn't breathe with the panicking man grabbing him and the current pulling them both under. If I'd been first too them I'm sure I'd be dead as the other rescuer was in much better shape than me. So I helped a man get free of another man's desperate struggle for life. I watched as two men died a few meters from me. In front of their family. A woman asked my wife why we weren't helping them. It was her husband and father. The water was too dangerous, the men too panicked, and I was too unfit. Emergency services recovered three bodies from that river. A woman and her daughter had drowned in the same spot a week ago. The woman's body was found by the divers looking for the two men." Here is a new article about the event. https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2022/01/three-bodies-recovered-from-manawat-river-in-one-day-including-missing-refugee-mother.html https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2022/01/three-bod...
  - throwaway6734 5y ago
    Good on you for making an effort and saving a life. It's incredibly dangerous to try to save drowning people without equipment
    - xupybd 5y ago
      I wouldn't claim to have saved a life. I think that guy could have gotten free on his own. I'm glad I helped him but wouldn't want to overstate my contribution.
      - xupybd 5y ago
        Advice to anyone that gets in this situation. Stop and think. Have a plan before you jump in. You need a way to help people float and to pull them in. Do not let a drowning person grab you they may kill you. If I had stopped to think I would have tied our two dog leads together and thrown them in. I could have pulled them in quickly. They were only 3 or 4 meters from the shore. Another option would have been to link arms with the strangers there and pull them out together.
        Koshkin 5y ago
        An incredibly sad story I heard a few years back, when a dog could not get out of the water and seemed to have started drowning, so a boy jumped in to help the dog but then also started drowning, and so his father went in trying to rescue him. Both drowned; the dog somehow managed to get out of the water on its own…
      - austinjp 5y ago
        I just want to echo the advice: talk to someone, preferably a professional. You've been through the wringer. Best wishes from the other side of our planet.
dhimes 5y ago
Wow. I have no words. I wish you peace. My sincere condolences.
leetrout 5y ago
> On Thursday my father passed away from cancer. I was with him in his last breaths. I was there with my dad when I was 11 and he was 46. I think about it almost daily 25 years later. I can still see him and feel his hand in my mind. It is the most rotten gift you can receive and a pain that you could someday cherish. To think of the potential discomfort and maybe even fear as life comes to a close yet have their child there with them, for you to see your parent off, is a moment that many people don't have. A moment of which many people were robbed with the pandemic and isolation in hospitals. Grief will come and go and time makes everything better. None of us get out of here alive. > Two men drowned on Sunday. I jumped in but failed to get them out. They died less than a meter from me. This is strikingly different and has a different impact. I was a volunteer firefighter for a long time and worked accidents with multiple casualties along with weeks of multiple calls and fatalities. Please talk to someone you trust or can relate to what you experienced. My details are in my profile if I am that person. Thank you for your act of kindness.

by xupybd 5y ago

ultramegachurch 5y ago

I'm deeply sorry for the loss of your father. Do you mind expanding on the story of watching the two men drown? I'm curious how you found yourself in that situation.

xupybd 5y ago
Sure, here is something I wrote in an earlier comment the day after it happened. "Yesterday we took our two dogs to the river for a walk. Two men got into trouble in the water, I jumped in to help. All I could do was help another man get free of one of the drowning men. The fellow rescuer couldn't breathe with the panicking man grabbing him and the current pulling them both under. If I'd been first too them I'm sure I'd be dead as the other rescuer was in much better shape than me. So I helped a man get free of another man's desperate struggle for life. I watched as two men died a few meters from me. In front of their family. A woman asked my wife why we weren't helping them. It was her husband and father. The water was too dangerous, the men too panicked, and I was too unfit. Emergency services recovered three bodies from that river. A woman and her daughter had drowned in the same spot a week ago. The woman's body was found by the divers looking for the two men." Here is a new article about the event. https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2022/01/three-bodies-recovered-from-manawat-river-in-one-day-including-missing-refugee-mother.html https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2022/01/three-bod...
- throwaway6734 5y ago
  Good on you for making an effort and saving a life. It's incredibly dangerous to try to save drowning people without equipment
  - xupybd 5y ago
    I wouldn't claim to have saved a life. I think that guy could have gotten free on his own. I'm glad I helped him but wouldn't want to overstate my contribution.
    - xupybd 5y ago
      Advice to anyone that gets in this situation. Stop and think. Have a plan before you jump in. You need a way to help people float and to pull them in. Do not let a drowning person grab you they may kill you. If I had stopped to think I would have tied our two dog leads together and thrown them in. I could have pulled them in quickly. They were only 3 or 4 meters from the shore. Another option would have been to link arms with the strangers there and pull them out together.
      - Koshkin 5y ago
        An incredibly sad story I heard a few years back, when a dog could not get out of the water and seemed to have started drowning, so a boy jumped in to help the dog but then also started drowning, and so his father went in trying to rescue him. Both drowned; the dog somehow managed to get out of the water on its own…
    - austinjp 5y ago
      I just want to echo the advice: talk to someone, preferably a professional. You've been through the wringer. Best wishes from the other side of our planet.

dhimes 5y ago

Wow. I have no words. I wish you peace. My sincere condolences.

leetrout 5y ago

> On Thursday my father passed away from cancer. I was with him in his last breaths. I was there with my dad when I was 11 and he was 46. I think about it almost daily 25 years later. I can still see him and feel his hand in my mind. It is the most rotten gift you can receive and a pain that you could someday cherish. To think of the potential discomfort and maybe even fear as life comes to a close yet have their child there with them, for you to see your parent off, is a moment that many people don't have. A moment of which many people were robbed with the pandemic and isolation in hospitals. Grief will come and go and time makes everything better. None of us get out of here alive. > Two men drowned on Sunday. I jumped in but failed to get them out. They died less than a meter from me. This is strikingly different and has a different impact. I was a volunteer firefighter for a long time and worked accidents with multiple casualties along with weeks of multiple calls and fatalities. Please talk to someone you trust or can relate to what you experienced. My details are in my profile if I am that person. Thank you for your act of kindness.