Testimony of Healing September 16, 2002 Issue

I kept getting pulled under by the waves

Jennifer Ranges

I live in Florida, near the Atlantic Ocean. My family and I like going to the beach and playing in the water. One day in the fall, when the water was starting to get cold and the waves were big, my brother, John, my dad, and I went to the beach. We saw a few people playing in the water, so my brother and I asked Dad if we could go in.

My dad didn't have his bathing suit on and didn't want us to go out in the ocean by ourselves because of the big waves. So he told us to stay just knee deep. We grabbed our boogie boards and ran into the water. The waves were crashing farther out, and my brother and I rode the foam that came after them into shore. But there was a current that took us sideways down the beach. These currents are pretty common, and we knew enough to get out of the water and walk back up the beach to where my dad was. We did this every time we got about 100 feet or so down the beach.

It was getting pretty late, and most of the people had gone home for dinner. Only a few surfers were out in the water way up the beach from us. Then a big wave came toward us. My brother rode it in, but I was scared and ducked under it so it wouldn't crash on me. Suddenly I was caught in the undertow and got pulled out from the shore to where the water was over my head. The next wave yanked my boogie board away from me. I tried to swim in, but I kept getting pulled under by the waves. I couldn't yell for help because every time I got to the surface to breathe, a wave would pull me under again. I couldn't see anyone because of the waves.

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