Assignment 11- Caden Reynolds

It was about three months ago, September 5th. My family and I made the trek down to Watts Bar Lake in Tennessee along with a couple other families. It seemed to be an exciting trip since the other the other families we took had never been to the lake before. The first day was very fun and filled with good times, we swam, did water sports. That afternoon, we decided it would be a good idea for us to eat dinner out on our boat in the water. So we packed some sandwiches and chips and headed out to the middle of the lake. It was getting a little dark so my mom suggested we should turn our boat lights on. Everyone else scoffed and figured my mom was being a little too protective, but we did this anyway. About an hour went by and it got even darker, although not completely dark but around dusk. Someone notices a boat coming towards us very fast at an alarming rate. Thinking it would see us, we casually take our phones and flashlights out to shine it at them, but it did not seem to stop or slow down at all. It just kept getting closer and closer. Once the boat was about 20 yards from us, I remember someone saying one thing, "EVERYBODY JUMP!" I sprint to the back of the boat and jump off as far away as I could. While I was in the air I hear a loud boom. When my head got back above water, I hear everyone screaming the names of their families. I assumed multiple people were killed based on the sound of the impact. The boat had mowed over ours destroying or knocking everything on ours into the lake. While frantically searching for everyone, we finally see everyone but one person. A mother, who seems to be missing. Then we hear a faint grunt from someone who appears to be in very much pain. It was indeed the mother, she is lying against the boat ladder and can't seem to move. We rush over to her and hold her above water because she is in a great deal of pain. While some are doing this, someone else calls the police and. The other boat still has not talked to us but they seemed to be very angry with the driver. The whole situation was very hectic, the children and husband of the injured mother were crying because they believed their mother was not going to survive this. It lasted about 45 minutes for a water ambulance to arrive. We lifted her up onto a metal crate, I can't even imagine the pain she was in. She barely made out the words, "I can barely breath." About 30 minutes after that, more police boats came to rush us back to shore where we see multiple cop cars, an ambulance, and a helicopter. The police were asking us and the members of the other boat questions. Turns out the driver of the other boat had a blood alcohol level of .17, well above the legal limit and that was about 2.5 hours after the crash, so I assume it was about .30. The police told us that this was the first time he had seen a boat crash of that severity where there wasn't a DOA (death on arrival). We sleep that night not knowing if she was going to live or not. The next morning, we end the trip early and head to the hospital that she was driven to. We had no idea how she was because all our phones were lost when we jumped in the water. We arrive there and see her, all good but heading for a long recovery. She had multiple breaks in 2 ribs, fractured vertebrae, collapsed lung, multiple breaks in her tibia, and a destroyed knee. She is still recovering and will probably be different for the rest of her life. The family has sworn off lakes for now as that was their first time every going to one. We can have a good laugh about it now and consider it a miracle that we all still had our lives. But it has made me a much more cautious person overall and I will never forget it.