B.C. woman who rescued drowning teen wins ‘highest honour for civilian heroism’ – BC | 24CA News

A West Vancouver lady will recieve a prestigious honour for her actions to rescue a drowning teenager final 12 months.

The Carnegie Medal is billed as North America’s “highest honour for civilian heroism.” The award is granted yearly to individuals who threat their very own lives to avoid wasting others.

Emilyn Golden was at Dundarave Beach on Sept. 9 together with her two kids when she heard frantic shouting.

She regarded as much as see the teenager, who’s on the autism spectrum, within the water — the place he had been pulled greater than 100 metres from shore by the tide.

Golden leapt into motion, stripping right down to her underwear and braving the chilly water and huge waves to seek out the boy.

2:09‘Nothing short of a hero’: Woman praised for heroic efforts in difficult rescue at West Vancouver seaside

“It’s so clear in my mind, I feel like any traumatic experience that you have in your life is imprinted on you so everything is very clear for me,” she stated.

In an interview with Global News simply days after the scary incident, Golden stated she swam as much as the boy to seek out his lips have been already blue from the chilly ocean waters.

She stated she was conscious he had autism, so she stored her distance and tried to talk sensitively — however that the boy was afraid and commenced to swim deeper into the water.

“I gave all my power and I went to go swim around in front of him so he would stop swimming out towards the middle of the ocean. He started kicking me and pushing me away,” Golden recalled on the time.

“I just said, ‘Your mom’s on the beach, she’s got popsicles, they’re yellow.’”

She was capable of get shut sufficient to him to seize his shirt and managed to maintain his head above water, swimming with only one arm in opposition to the present, till a rescue boat responded and plucked them from the ocean.

At the time, West Vancouver police Const. Kevin Goodmurphy described a “frantic scene” on the seaside, the place police had been referred to as by the boy’s caregivers.

He advised Global News he noticed Golden within the water, describing her as a “hero” who had put her life in danger and deserved all the popularity on this planet as a result of she completely saved this individual’s life.”

The Carnegie Medal has been awarded to greater than 10,300 folks because it was created by the Pittsburgh-based Carnegie Hero Fund in 1094.

“You don’t receive the award without it being obvious that you put your life at risk to save someone else’s,” Golden stated in an interview Thursday.

“So for me to receive it is also a little make me feel a little bit uneasy too knowing that I did put myself at risk. But I think you can’t do anything extraordinary without some level of risk involved.”

Golden is slated to obtain her medal sooner or later within the coming months.

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