Act of heroism on Cape Breton beach
North Sydney man to receive award for saving woman swept out to sea
INVERNESS — Krista Grosskleg admits she knows very little about the man who saved her life two years ago at a Cape Breton beach.
But the Ontario woman says she’ll never forget Chris Lawless, the North Sydney man who rescued her after she was suddenly swept out to sea while playing with her daughter in the shallow waters off Inverness Beach in the summer of 2017.
To Grosskleg, who spent three days in hospital recovering from the harrowing ordeal, Lawless will always be the silent hero.
It turns out she’s not alone in thinking of him in that light. The Pennsylvania-based Carnegie Hero Fund Commission is recognizing the 44-year-old senior planner and certified engineering technologist with a Carnegie Medal, the highest honour for civilian heroism in the United States and Canada. Lawless is the only Canadian among the latest group of people selected to receive the award, which comes with a financial grant.
“I’m thrilled for him, he deserves all the recognition he gets — I’ll always be grateful to Chris for what he did,” said Grosskleg, an elementary school teacher who was 40 years old when she experienced her close call in the chilly waters of the Gulf of
St. Lawrence.
“I reached out to him through social media and he acknowledged my gratitude, but I think he didn’t want to make a big deal about it — he just seems like the kind of guy who just felt like he did what he needed to do.”
Lawless, who will receive the Carnegie Medal sometime in 2020, did not respond to an interview request.
THE INCIDENT
In the summer of 2017, 40-yearold Grosskleg, her husband Ian Caughley and daughters Meara and Molly, then aged nine and seven respectively, were enjoying a camping holiday on Cape Breton Island.
On the morning of July 22, the family left their Whycocomagh-area campsite and made their way to the public beach in nearby Inverness. A short while later, Grosskleg was playing in the water with Meara, while Caughley was on shore with younger daughter Molly.
“We were just splashing around in water that was probably up to our knees and then all of sudden we weren’t,” recalled Grosskleg.
“Everything just changed really quick — one second we were fine and the next we were not where we were any more.”
She remembers holding on to her nine-year-old daughter as they were rapidly carried further away from shore and into deeper water by the rip current. All the while, she kept a tight hold on her child as large waves driven by high winds pounded over them and made an unassisted return to shore seemingly impossible.
“As a family we’ve always spent a lot of time in the water and we’re very cautious. We’re good swimmers, too, but this was too much — she was getting tired and so was I but I kept holding her up while trying to get my husband’s attention,” she recounted.
By then, others had become aware of the peril facing mother and daughter. Grosskleg’s husband, who is an Ottawa Valley firefighter, frantically raced out to his wife and daughter. At the same time, Chris Lawless, then 41, also sprang into action.
Caughley got there first and grabbed Meara from his wife’s weakening grip. Then, almost immediately, Lawless appeared and gave Caughley his boogie board floatation device.
But while Caughley safely brought his eldest daughter back to the beach, Lawless continued toward Grosskleg who was weakening and beginning to succumb to the power of the cold and turbulent water.
By the time Lawless got to
Grosskleg she had been carried some 300 feet out to sea. She was floating on her back and was barely conscious.
“It seemed like it was just in an instant that I was swept away and I was getting weaker — I thought it was over, but thanks to Chris I’m still here to talk about it,” said Grosskleg.
Lawless then grasped her and managed to pull her back toward shallower waters where they were assisted by a lifeguard and others.
“Not everybody has the wherewithal and the skills do to what he did — he must be an incredibly strong swimmer because he grabbed me and held on to me by himself until another rescuer got there,” said Grosskleg, who resides in Pembroke, Ont., 150 kilometres west of Ottawa.
The experience has left Grosskleg with nothing but fond memories and a desire to return to Cape Breton.
“I’ll never forget Chris and I’ll never forget the other people, they were all incredible — there was also a paramedic there, an off-duty nurse, everybody was incredible, we are very lucky,” she said.
Lawless is one of 18 Carnegie Medals award recipients announced this week. Three of the recipients will be recognized posthumously, including a 41-year-old California man who drowned after jumping into a fast-moving river after his nineyear-old son who had slipped off the riverbank. The father could not swim. The boy survived.
The Carnegie Hero Fund
Commission was established in the early 1900s by ScottishAmerican industrialist and leading philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. To date, a total of 10,135 Carnegie Medals have been awarded to people for acts of extraordinary heroism.
Carnegie, who guided the expansion of the American steel industry, is said to have spent the last 18 years of his life giving away $350 million ($65 billion in 2019 dollars), which amounted to an about estimated 90 per cent of his fortune.