Students rescue peer during beach accident

After saving senior Tural Erel over a month ago, Glenbrook South senior Paul Choi reacts upon learning of Tural Erel's mother Sapho Erel’s gratitude. Choi's lifeguard experience helped him respond to the incident. Photo by Sydney Stumme-Berg
After saving senior Tural Erel over a month ago, Glenbrook South senior Paul Choi reacts upon learning of Tural Erel’s mother Sapho Erel’s gratitude. Choi’s lifeguard experience helped him respond to the incident. Photo by Sydney Stumme-Berg

As he discusses the rescue of Glenbrook North senior Tural Erel from the water at Gillson Beach, Glenbrook South senior Paul Choi shifts his eyes down to his fiddling hands during a moment of reflection, and a distressed look crosses his face.
His emotions stem from an incident that occurred on Sunday, Aug. 21, when a group of GBN and GBS students gathered to watch the sunrise and witnessed Erel’s accident.
“I saw everything happen,” said Choi. “I saw [Erel] run in, saw him dive in head first, and then he was just floating. His back was facing the sky, so his face was in the water.
“In my mind, there were three things: One, he’s playing. Two, he’s unconscious. Three, … there is an [injury]. I was praying that he was just playing around and that he was going to stand back up in like 10 seconds, but he didn’t stand back up.”
GBN senior Carly Smith said because Erel is a varsity swimmer, the students thought he must have been kidding, and there was no way he could be in any trouble in water that was only mid-thigh deep.
After about 30 seconds of nervous laughter and anxious glances at one another, Smith said someone playing football in the water near Erel walked over to him, flipped him over and started screaming for help.
When there was no response from Erel, Choi said he immediately knew Erel was either unconscious or suffered an injury. Choi ran in with a few people and removed Erel from the water and onto the beach where they started standard rescue protocol.
“[I asked Erel], ‘Hey, hey can you see me? Can you hear me? Can you feel me touching your hand?’ When I asked him that question, he said no.
“At that moment, I knew it was an [injury], and I knew that as a past lifeguard we did a horrible job taking him out of the water because when it is an [injury] you have to make sure his neck doesn’t move, his back is straight and you have to take him out slowly, but the process of a bunch of students taking him out of the water was very disorganized. He was moving around a lot and that’s something I have a huge regret [about].”
When Erel was back on the sand, GBS senior Katie MacQuarrie, who is a lifeguard for the Glenview Park District, was able to assess her surroundings and help him in the situation.
“I thought since he was moving his head around a lot, we didn’t want to deepen the [possible injury], so I put him in a vice grip, which is basically when you put your arms around his head and place [your] hands on the backs of [his] shoulders just to stabilize his neck and head so he didn’t move it anymore,” MacQuarrie said.
She said she maintained a simple dialogue with Erel by asking him for his name and asking him to count backwards from 10.
“When someone has an [injury], you are supposed to keep them talking to make sure they are staying mentally stable and not losing consciousness.
“Tural was clearly really freaked out because he couldn’t feel anything, I think at all really, when I was talking to him,” said MacQuarrie. “He was kind of staring blankly. He never really took his eyes off me. So I kind of took it upon myself to make sure that I wasn’t showing that I was frantic or nervous. I was just trying to keep him at ease.”
Smith said the lifeguard experience of several students on the beach was a major factor in ensuring Erel’s progressing recovery. She encourages people to receive basic safety training and get certified because it may save a life.
Tural Erel’s mother Sapho Erel said she could not thank the students who helped him enough.
“Paul Choi was really a primary [responder] that pulled him out of the water,” said Sapho Erel. “We owe Tural’s life to [Choi] and the rest of them.”
She said Tural Erel is expected to make a full recovery, and the family is grateful to those who have supported him after the incident.
“His friends and the GBN staff, including [the] principal and superintendent, and [many] of his teachers have supported him 120 percent since the onset of this [situation].
“We are so lucky, and it is an absolute miracle,” Sapho Erel said.