JACKSON, Mich. (WLNS) – It’s a story of the right person being in the right place at the right time.
For 20-year-old Nathan Parshall, that meant going fishing at Welsh Lake on March 17.
“I first noticed the dog swimming around and then when I got closer I heard her yelling and screaming for help,” said Parshall.
A woman had taken a canoe out, trying to rescue her dog when she fell into the ice. She was stranded and holding onto her capsized canoe for more than 30 minutes in freezing temperatures. That is until Parshall found her and her dog and brought them back to shore just in time.
“I just knew that if she was in the water for five or ten more minutes she would have probably went into a coma, or even drowned from arms tightening up.”
Paramedics on scene say if he wasn’t for him she would not have made it.
“Our biggest thing was getting her warm. She was very very close had it been you know another five or ten minutes it would have been a whole different story for him,” said Jackson Community Ambulance EMT, Carri Clark.
Thankfully she has now fully recovered, and alive because of Parshall’s quick actions. That’s why today Jackson first responders honored him with the life-saving award.
“It’s great to see young people stepping up like that and again going above and beyond what they even need to do. You know he could have heard that and just brushed it off and he didn’t. He decided to jump full in and that was huge,” said Clark.
Parshall says he doesn’t consider himself a hero.
“It surprised me at first. I didn’t think I was going to get any recognition from it. The only thing I thought I was going to get from it was if I’m in trouble like that I would just hope someone would step up like that,” said Parshall.
When asked by paramedics if he’s considering a career as a first responder, Parshall says it’s a possibility.
“I mean I’ll give it a thought. I originally was going to be you know like a lineman for Consumers, but I mean I obviously have the skills to do it so maybe I’ll look more into it.”