Boy survives drowning

incident during church

outing on the coast

     LONG BEACH, Wash. — No one will likely have to convince members of a Spanaway, Wash., church youth group that visited here last month about the power of prayer.
     In a dramatic story covered extensively by Northwest news media, and made all the more dramatic by a local photographer’s stunning coverage, a boy from that group is alive today after surviving a drowning incident on the beach Aug. 5
     One picture by Damian Mulinix, photographer for the Chinook Observer newspaper of Long Beach (damianmulinix@blogspot.com) showed a volunteer surf rescue team carrying an apparently lifeless 12-year-old boy, Charles “Dale” Ostrander, out of the ocean.
     Another photo by Mulinix showed members of the church group on their faces in fervent prayer for the boy as the rescue efforts took place.
Ostrander was one of about 20 youths from Bethel Baptist Church, an independent Baptist congregation in Spanaway, near Tacoma, who came to Cranberry Beach on a day trip to throw a party for their youth pastor. The boy, who cannot swim, was wearing a long-sleeve shirt and pants and standing in water in the mid-50s and about a foot deep. when a riptide suddenly knocked him down and dragged him away.
     Nicole Kissel, a 12-year-old California girl visiting Long Beach, was bodyboarding with her father about 100 yards off the coast when she heard Ostrander’s cries for help.
     Paddling furiously to him, she slipped off her board and placed the exhausted boy on it. She started kicking the board toward shore but struggled against a strong riptide. Then a huge wave swept over the board, knocking them off and sucking them to the bottom. At this point fearful that she might drown as well, she tried to push Ostrander to the surface. She again saw the board, swam to grab it, looked back and could no longer see the boy.
     Kissel’s father pulled her out of the water. Returning to the beach, she feared that the boy might be gone forever. But rescue teams then arrived, found Ostrander floating about two feet beneath the surface near where he had fallen off the board, and used a jet ski to pull his body from the ocean.. However, he showed no vital signs after having spent an estimated 20 minutes in the water, and looked to be dead.
     The aid workers performed CPR for 10 minutes before taking him to a local hospital, where the boy’s heart started beating again. Ostrander was transferred by LifeFlight helicopter to Doernbecher Children’s Hospital at Oregon Health and Science University in Portland, where he was placed in an induced coma as part of his treatment. Several days later the boy was brought out of the coma, was breathing on his own and speaking in full sentences — to the amazement of family and doctors. On Aug. 10, he was moved out of intensive care and listed in fair condition. Then on Aug. 24 he was relased from the hospital to continue his recovery at Good Samaritan Hospital in Puyallup, Wash., near Se-attle.
     Chad Ostrander, the boy’s father, said the fact that his son is alive and communicating is a miracle of God.
     Kissel and her grandmother, Darlene Terry of Vancouver, later visited Ostrander in his Portland hospital room. The boy managed to say “thank you” and his mother, Kirsten Ostrander, gave a big hug to the girl.
     Authorities said the short time that Ostrander spent on Kissel’s board was a factor in his survival. Also working in his favor were the ocean’s cold temperature, which makes cells require less oxygen; the boy’s young age; and the rescuers’ quick performance of CPR.
     The extent of Ostrander's recovery remains to be seen. His father says the boy will need speech and physical therapy.
     His cognitive abilities are all intact; he hears and understands what people are saying to him, and can point out his name and family members’ names. By late August he was feeding himself, but wasn’t yet allowed to drink on his own out of concern that he might choke on liquids.
      Updates on Ostrander’s condition are provided at a blog set up by his church that can be found at prayersfordale.blogspot.com.
     The site includes an evangelistic message on the boy’s behalf, emphasizing the fragility of earthly life and that everyone needs to accept Christ’s offer of salvation for assurance of eternal life in Heaven.