boat onto the sand, in approximately six inches of water.
Before the wreck, I believed some things happened for a
reason. After the wreck however, I am absolutely convinced.
Perhaps God has a plan for us all and I am just now figuring that out. Or perhaps He puts people in our lives for a
reason. Whatever the case may be, I know one thing to be
true — I prayed after my mother’s passing for my dad to find
someone that would laugh at his jokes, be nice to him, and
genuinely love him deeply. Those prayers were answered.
Cheryl Gray is an Army veteran, mother of three, and
business owner. She is pretty, successful and the daughter of a Baptist preacher. She has been coming into Grote
Veterinary Clinic once a year for over 20 years, selling x-ray
equipment, yet I had never met her. Looking back, I can
now see that the person I had prayed for had been there
all along. I also see other things that may have seemed like
coincidences, but there are simply too many for it to be
anything other than divine intervention.
The one-year anniversary of the day Gary and Cheryl
began dating exclusively was February 12. Gary was so
excited about his new love that he looked for weeks for
the perfect “going steady” ring. Neither thought they were
ready to get married again, but Gary wanted something that
he could give Cheryl to show her, as well as the rest of the
world, that she was loved. Intending to give the ring to her
on their anniversary, Gary was unable to wait that long and
gave her the ring the day he got it. As it turned out, they
would not celebrate their anniversary with dinner and wine
as expected. Perhaps it is a coincidence he gave her the ring
early, but then again… .
Gary and Cheryl sat in the front of the boat while the
driver stood at the wheel. It was a foggy morning, but they
likely didn’t pay much attention. They were huddled together, ducking their heads against the wind and holding onto
each other as the boat gained speed. In fact, Cheryl probably had her nose against Gary’s cheek as she leaned in to
hear a joke he was sure to be telling. Then, Cheryl woke up
in the sand. She doesn’t swim and becomes immobile in
cold water, so it was a good thing (or coincidence?) that the
water was only about six inches deep and was surprisingly
warm for February. Her neck and her back hurt. She looked
over and saw her “Gary George” lying on his back, about
10 feet away. He told her he was having trouble breathing.
The driver called 911 for help, but it would not come soon
enough. Cheryl would have to save Gary first.
“For a split second, in some way my brain was telling me
I had to make a decision, whether to stay still or go over to
him,” she said. “But really, it really wasn’t a choice. I just
went straight to him. It happened so fast. But I knew he
needed help and I just reacted. He had a cut on his head
and there was blood everywhere. I held his head up out
of the water, and tried to hold the cut together to stop the
bleeding. He said he couldn’t feel his legs, and he was
having trouble breathing. And then, he turned blue.” As the
driver tried to tell the 911 operator their location in the bay,
Cheryl did chest compressions and then forced her breath
into Gary’s lungs. She was able to continue CPR until Gary
started breathing again.
Cheryl would find out that she had fractured her neck.
“When my doctor told me that my neck was fractured in
two places, I was not surprised. From my years in
radiology and my time in the Army, I have experience with broken bones. What did surprise me was
that I figured out that if the fractures in my neck had
been in any other place, one bone higher or one
bone lower, I probably would not have been able to
have performed CPR that day.”
Again, looking back, the soft sand likely cushioned their landing. Had they been ejected onto dry,
hard sand, they may not have survived the impact.
If they had fallen into the water, they very likely
could have drowned. Cheryl doesn’t swim, and she
wouldn’t have been able to do CPR or hold Gary’s
head out of the water until help arrived.
As Cheryl recalls that time on the sandbar, tears
begin to fill her eyes. “I was very upset because it
seemed like no one was coming to help. I mean, I