Cody resident Jeanne Goodeill doesn't know the name of the man who saved her son's life on the Fourth of July. Wherever he is, she has a simple message for him.
"I'd love to say, 'Thank you,'" she told Cowboy State Daily on Monday. "I'm a widow, and Lucas is my only son."
Lucas Goodeill and his cousin Skyler Tomlinson, both 18, were out on Beck Lake on an inflatable raft on the afternoon of July 4 when a thunderstorm swept them into the water. A stranger onshore who saw them go in acted quickly and saved their lives.
"Lucas told me that had he not pulled them in, they wouldn't have made it," Jeanne said.
Sudden Storm
The Goodeills were hosting the Tomlinsons as they visited Cody from Cincinnati, Ohio, for the Fourth of July, Jeanne said. Lucas was in the Cody Stampede Parade that morning with the Cody High School marching band, and Skyler got a spot carrying the banner ahead of the band.
That afternoon, the cousins decided to enjoy the afternoon with a leisurely float on Beck Lake. They had an inflatable raft, but no life jackets.
“The boys wanted to go have fun out at the lake with their friends from the band," Jeanne said. “So I said, OK, have fun.'"
That afternoon, a thunderstorm swept over Cody, churning up the placid waters.
The inflatable raft capsized, sending Lucas and Skyler into the water.
"They were stuck in the middle of the lake with heavy swells, trying to swim the length of the lake," Jeanne said. "Because of the current, they couldn't swim to the side of the lake. So, they were struggling. The storm made it difficult for them."
Jeanne said both Lucas and Skyler are "very strong, healthy 18-year-old boys who are really good swimmers."
Even so, their skills and strength weren't enough to overcome the sudden storm.
"Kids don't realize that it doesn't matter how strong of a swimmer you are when you're caught in a storm," she said. "They were getting really tired. The waves were splashing up in the face, making it hard to breathe, which was making them even more tired. People just don't realize that it could happen to anyone."
Swimming Stranger
Recognizing the peril of his situation, Lucas started calling for help, she said. A couple who had reached the dock heard their calls and sprang into action.
"The guy knew they were in trouble, so he grabbed two life vests from his canoe and swam out to the boys," Jeanne said. "He swam out to the boys, they grabbed onto the life vests, and he swam them back to shore where they could stand up."
When Lucas and Skyler came home shortly after their ordeal, Jeanne said the evidence of their life-and-death struggle was obvious.
"They were in shock," she said. "When Lucas walked through my door, he was blue. He said, 'We almost died.' It was fight or flight, and they fought as best as they could until that guy pulled them out."
Jeanne called a nurse practitioner to come to her home to conduct a health check on the boys. Thankfully, she said, their lungs were clear, and they hadn't swallowed any water.
Jeanne admitted her motherly intuition kicked in when she saw the storm clouds over Cody.
"I sent a text to my son when the storm started because I just had this gut feeling," she said. "Something didn't feel right. So, I sent the test text saying, 'Hey, it's a pretty bad storm. Hopefully, you made it out of the water. Are you OK?'
“And about 30 minutes later, I got a text from my son saying, 'Yes, we're OK." But they didn't look good when they walked through the door."
Lesson Learned
Jeanne doesn't know the identity of the man who saved Lucas and Skyler. She said he took a photo of himself and the boys after their rescue, but they never got his name.
"I would love to meet him and thank him for saving my son," she said.
What struck Jeanne was the compassion shown by the Cody community in the aftermath of the boys' near-death experience. In addition to the heroic actions of the swimming stranger, many other people at Beck Lake stepped up to help.
"They went to the gazebo on the shore where a bunch of bike riders were huddled to get out of the storm," she said. "They were handing them clothes to help them warm up, and one of them drove their car up so they could get in and warm up. The community helped them make it home safely."
Gerald Dworkin, a national aquatics safety and training consultant who has worked as a firefighter and EMT since 1972, said people in landlocked states often underestimate the suddenness of summer storms and the danger they can create on open water.
“Even if there are lifeguards present, a lifeguard cannot affect the rescue effectively and quickly in water that’s deeper than 9 or 10 feet,” said Dworkin, whose company, Lifesaving Resources LLC, is based in Maine. “And that’s in a swimming pool. When you add dark water and cold water and an unknown bottom, it makes it extremely difficult for first responders, for lifeguards, for anyone to do an effective, rapid search and rescue.”
Dworkin recommended that all recreational boaters and swimmers not leave shore without a Coast Guard-approved life vest or flotation device.
Jeanne acknowledged that the boys should have been wearing life jackets when they were on Beck Lake, and that lesson has been learned. They picked up new life jackets in Red Lodge, Montana, over the weekend.
Nevertheless, it's going to be a while before Lucas and Skyler decide to venture out to the water again. Jeanne said they learned a true life lesson from their near-death experience on Beck Lake.
"The first thing he said when he walked through the door was, 'I will never be in a body of water, a lake, or on a river without having a life vest ever again,'" she said. "This is a lesson learned the hard way, but a lesson learned, nonetheless."
Andrew Rossi can be reached at arossi@cowboystatedaily.com.
