Kimberley RCMP announced this week that the Lifesaving Society, BC & Yukon has awarded the Silver Medal of Merit to Nixen Sherratt, Cooper Pearson and Cole Pearson, And the Silver Medal of Bravery as well as the Governor’s Gold Award to Kimberley’s Chris Pearson and Cranbrook’s Jason Sherratt. They will receive the awards at the 112th Annual Commonwealth Awards for Honour and Rescue on March 9 at the Fairmont Hotel in Vancouver.
The award is being presented because of their actions in saving the life of a three-year-old girl who nearly drowned in Wasa Lake last July.
READ: Kimberley RCMP recognize Kootenay men who saved girl from drowning
They were also recognized for their bravery by the Kimberley RCMP Detachment last summer.
Sherratt and his son Nixen, and Pearson with his two boys Cole and Cooper were out at Wasa Lake for a boys day. They were all playing football on the beach and then Pearson offered to take Cooper out on his aluminum boat, but as soon as they got out, it died, so they had to row it back to shore.
“We were just kind of tinkering with it, the boys kind of took off and went and played with other kids on the beach,” Sherratt told the Bulletin last summer. “Then Coop and Nix just came barreling down the beach towards us and started screaming that there was a little girl drowning. At first we thought they were just pulling our leg, like no she looks fine, because we could see a little girl standing by the water screaming, then they pointed out into the water and they were like, ‘no, look.’”
Sherratt said they lookd out and all they could just see a little bathing suit rolling in the waves, and they realized the boys were telling the truth. They then saw the girl’s dad running down the beach towards them.
“Chris actually yelled at me and said, ‘I think that guy’s going to be gassed when he gets there buddy, we gotta go in too.’ We just ditched and ran into the water too and it was good thing we did, because he was gassed when he got there, and he was going down trying to hold her.”
Pearson picked her up and the two of them were passing her back and forth as they were swimming back to shore. Once Sherratt could get his feet on the ground he took her, held her up and put her in the choked position for infants, laying her on her side and smacking her on the back to try and get water out of her lungs as he was coming out of the water.
“As we got to the beach we put her down on the sand and it was crazy, she was blue. It was super scary,” Sherratt said.
“I just started CPR right away. Chris ran down the beach yelling for anybody who had a cell phone to call 911, he was rounding up, getting all the kids away from the girl, because he saw what I saw, it was not good. She didn’t look alive at all.”
The girl was sent to Vancouver for treatment and is now doing well.
Pearson and Sherratt both said at the time that the experience highlights how important having First Aid certification is.
With files from Paul Rodgers.
