{"id":5843,"date":"2011-08-11T12:12:38","date_gmt":"2011-08-11T16:12:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/news\/?p=5843"},"modified":"2011-08-13T04:16:27","modified_gmt":"2011-08-13T08:16:27","slug":"miracle-brave-girl-cited-as-12-year-old-boy-survives-riptide-near-drowning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2011\/08\/miracle-brave-girl-cited-as-12-year-old-boy-survives-riptide-near-drowning","title":{"rendered":"Miracle, brave girl cited as 12-year-old boy survives riptide, near-drowning"},"content":{"rendered":"

In what some are describing as a “flat-out miracle,”\u00a0\u00a012-year-old Dale Ostrander, who was pulled seemingly lifeless from a\u00a0Washington state\u00a0ocean riptide,\u00a0has begun speaking, amazing his doctors.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
A school photo of Dale Ostrander<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Prayer is being cited as a factor in the boy’s recovery after being underwater for\u00a0more than\u00a010 minutes\u00a0at Long Beach, Washington.<\/p>\n

“Dale Ostrander was at the beach enjoying a picturesque day trip with the Bethel Baptist Church group,” writes Amanda Frink of the local\u00a0Chinook Observer<\/em> newspaper. “The surf was violently agitated.” The boy was dragged out to sea, but is\u00a0“alive today thanks to instantaneous heroism by a visiting girl, her dad and surf-rescue volunteers.”<\/p>\n

\u201cThey just went for a day and were just getting in ankle- and knee-deep \u2026 it wasn\u2019t a swimming activity \u2014 but he got sucked in,\u201d said Denise Minge, daughter-in-law of Bethel Baptist Pastor Terry Minge.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Nicole Kissel describes rescue<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

That’s when 12-year-old\u00a0boogie boarder\u00a0Nicole Kissel heard a cry for help and saw\u00a0Dale being dragged out to sea.<\/p>\n

After hearing Dale’s call for help Friday, Nicole told CBS affiliate KOIN-TV in Portland, Ore., “I was thinking I have to go help him,” and immediately turned her boogie board toward the boy despite the objections of her father, who shouted over the crashing waves about the dangerous conditions.<\/p>\n

Although her board is much smaller than a surfboard, “she took her boogie board and swam out to help him,” reports Frink.<\/p>\n

She\u00a0managed to reach Dale, who was struggling to stay afloat. Together, the two ruggled against the rip current and crashing\u00a0waves.<\/p>\n

Nicole\u00a0helped\u00a0Dale climb onto\u00a0her small board — which is barely large enough for one person — then\u00a0laid down\u00a0on top of him, grasping the sides of the board just\u00a0as they were hit by\u00a0large waves and dragged further out into the heavy surf.<\/p>\n

“When we were on that board, I kind of shouted out to myself: `We’re going to die. I can’t die like this,”‘ Nicole recalled.<\/p>\n

At one point, in frustration, “I said a bad word,” she told reporters,\u00a0and Dale admonished her, “Hey, God doesn’t like that.” Then he\u00a0offered words of assurance: “Keep paddling. We’re almost there.”<\/p>\n

Then, however,\u00a0they were hit by a large wave and “were pushed down to the bottom,” writes Frink,\u00a0“where the two kids lost hold of the board and each other. Nicole said she was able to grasp Ostrander\u2019s arm and, by pushing off from the bottom, pulled him up to the surface. They both swam towards the boogie board, which was floating about 20 feet away from them toward the shore.<\/p>\n

“But as Nicole reached the board, she looked back and the boy was gone. That\u2019s when her father was able to reach his daughter and bring her back to shore while another bystander took her boogie board in an attempt to find Ostrander.<\/p>\n

But the boy was nowhere to be seen.<\/p>\n

Help was summoned, including the South Pacific County Technical Rescue Team, the Long Beach Volunteer Fire Department, Washington State Parks rangers and the Coast Guard, which was conducting drills offshore. The Coast Guard vessel dropped buoys to determine which direction the water was flowing. At least a dozen responders stood atop various vehicles \u2014 including the Long Beach Volunteer Fire Department\u2019s brush truck \u2014 hoping to spot\u00a0the boy\u00a0through binoculars.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Bethel Baptist kids pray during rescue (photo by Damian Mulinix, Chinook Observer)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On the sand nearby,\u00a0the 20 kids of the church youth group gathered into groups and\u00a0began praying fervently for their friend.<\/p>\n

Within about 10 minutes,\u00a0Dale was found\u00a0\u00a0floating two feet below the surface, according to rescue volunteer Eduardo Mendez.\u00a0He and rescue swimmer Will Green carried the unconscious\u00a0boy to the beach.<\/p>\n

“For bystanders, the scene was grim,” reports\u00a0Frink. “Paramedics, kneeling in the sand, continued to work on reviving him for about another 10 minutes. Amid resuscitation efforts, Ostrander was loaded into an ambulance and transported to Ocean Beach Hospital with life-threatening conditions.”<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the Baptist church kids kept praying. Perhaps because of their determination, responders did not give up, although the boy was not breathing, had been underwater at least 10 minutes, and showed no signs of life.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen he was found, he was unconscious and not breathing,” reported one\u00a0witness on an internet blog set up days later and dedicated to prayer for the boy.\u00a0“Emergency personnel performed CPR on him and got a heartbeat and later got him to breathe on his own.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s up to paramedic discretion, not every situation is exactly the same,\u201d explained local Fire Chief Jacob Brundage. “They have to take all the pieces of the scene and of what happened to determine the extent of resuscitation efforts. It\u2019s up to the paramedic to make the decision when to stop efforts, and in that criteria or that protocol, there is a point where the paramedic can choose to terminate efforts, but in this case, the paramedic chose to continue resuscitation efforts to the hospital.<\/p>\n

“I talked to my medic from that day and he said they didn\u2019t get any pulse in the back of the rig; they discovered a pulse after they arrived at the hospital.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the hospital, the boy\u00a0was\u00a0put into an medically induced coma and airlifted to Children\u2019s Hospital in Portland, Ore.\u00a0There, doctors kept his body temperature down to help with the brain swelling.<\/p>\n

“By Monday,” reports Frink,\u00a0“Ostrander had opened his eyes.”<\/p>\n

\u201cThe doctors just removed Dale\u2019s breathing tube and he is now breathing on his own,\u201d the prayer blog reported that day. \u201cAlso, because of possible damage to the brain they were unsure if he would be able to speak. Minutes after the tube was removed, the doctors told him to cough. Not only did Dale talk back to the doctors, he responded in a full sentence saying, \u2018I don\u2019t have to.\u2019<\/p>\n

“Dale continues to get better by the minute and the doctors are more and more amazed! God is good!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBelieve me, people are praying all over the states and all over the world,\u201d said Denise Minge, who is maintaining the blog. \u201cGod is truly working a miracle! I personally think he\u2019s showing off how powerful He is and proving that He is in control.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, the boy\u2019s mother, Kirsten Ostrander, reported her son is \u201cdoing miraculously well. He is improving every day, following commands, tracking with his eyes, and even talking some. Please continue to pray as he keeps fighting strong to recover. We appreciate all your prayers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis morning at 8 o\u2019clock, he said \u2018Morning\u2019 to his parents,” reads another blog entry. “He kept trying to get out of bed. When his dad told him that he can\u2019t get out of bed, he said very emphatically, \u2018Yes I can!\u2019 Dale\u2019s dad says that Dale is answering \u2018yes\u2019 and \u2018no\u2019 questions.\u201d<\/p>\n

“There’s been several miracles just in the circumstances of finding him, the fact that he’s not dead, the fact that he can move, the fact that he can speak,” said his father, Chad Ostrander. “Unbelievable.”<\/p>\n

When she heard how Dale was doing, Nicole recalled for KOIN, “I thought, ‘Thank the Lord.”‘<\/p>\n

Two more words came Wednesday, when Nicole visited him. She said he seemed to have trouble focusing his eyes for most of the 15-minute reunion. But as she left, he made eye contact for the first time and said, “Thank you.”<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was truly a team effort,\u201d Fire Chief Brundage observed. “Sometimes the patient\u2019s outcome isn\u2019t positive, but in this case it was. This was certainly one in 100. But it wasn\u2019t his time to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

And then, there’s also the matter of the fervent prayers of a bunch of young Baptists on the beach.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In what some are describing as a “flat-out miracle,”\u00a0\u00a012-year-old Dale Ostrander, who was pulled seemingly lifeless from a\u00a0Washington state\u00a0ocean riptide,\u00a0has begun speaking, amazing his doctors.\u00a0 Prayer is being cited as a factor in the boy’s recovery after being underwater for\u00a0more than\u00a010 minutes\u00a0at Long Beach, Washington. “Dale Ostrander was at the beach enjoying a picturesque day…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":270,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[32,354],"tags":[2204,2223],"class_list":["post-5843","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christian","category-prayer","tag-christian","tag-prayer"],"yoast_head":"\nMiracle, brave girl cited as 12-year-old boy survives riptide, near-drowning<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, 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