A summer rescue in Arctic Bay

TITUS EECHEAK
Special to Nunatsiaq News

IQALUIT — I was faced with a life and death situation on August 14, which made my summer vacation in Arctic Bay very different than others.

I was eating lunch at my parent’s home when I looked out the window and saw an elder, Isaac Shooyoo, who is in his early 60s, and two of his grandchildren, aged five and six, inside a large motorized boat.

It was anchored about 15 metres from shore, and tied to it was a small row-boat. I paid no real attention until I looked through the window again and saw only the kids.

I also saw what looked like a large plastic bag floating away from the boat. When I looked closer again, I realized that it was Mr. Shooyoo floating away, face down in the water.

I reacted so fast that I don’t remember putting on my father’s shoes. But I did, and ran down to the shore as fast as I could.

When I arrived at the pebbled beach, I realized the boat was out in the water, anchored to a rock, which turned out to be half a meter in diameter. The boat was also anchored to the shore, so I pulled hard on the shoreline.

It took me about three minutes to pull the boat in, but it felt like it was taking forever. It took all my strength to pull the anchored boat with the two kids onto shore.

The elder’s son, Jessie, about 19, ran into the water after me and tried swimming to his father, but the water was too cold and his father was floating too far out.

So Jessie came back and jumped into the motorized boat with us. But the key wasn’t in the motor to start it. So I then jumped into the small rowboat, and grabbed a one-and-a-half meter tent pole from the boat bottom. I paddled fiercely towards Mr. Shooyoo, who was quickly being swept out to sea.

When I got to Mr. Shooyoo he was face down down in the water. The only reason he didn’t sink is because his jacket hood had filled with air. When I lifted his head out of the water, his lips were purple and he wasn’t breathing. I tried lifting him into the boat, but he was too heavy.

So I just put my arms around his chest and squeezed and squeezed his body hard to give him CPR while I waited for help. It was about two minutes before thelp arrived.

By this time, Mr. Shooyoo started breathing again. Help arrived in a motor boat holding Samson Ejangiaq, Jessie Shooyoo and my youngest brother Peter Eecheak.

They helped me pull Mr. Shooyoo out of the water and into the larger boat. When we got him into the boat, we blasted the boat to shore, where the RCMP were already waiting to transfer Mr. Shooyoo to the Arctic Bay Health Center.

Later on that afternoon, I went into the health center before Mr. Shooyoo was medivacked to Iqaluit. He had been unconscious for two hours.

Mr. Shooyoo recuperated in Iqaluit for 10 days. When he returned home, he asked me to visit him at his home. He thanked me.

When I think about it now, I know I would be very sad today if I had not rushed to Mr. Shooyoo’s rescue.