Patrick Matthews saved Brenda K. Ingram and Lauren P. Richmond from drowning, Oak Island, North Carolina, August 3, 2000. Ms. Ingram, 47, and her grandniece, Lauren, 6, were wading in the Atlantic Ocean when they drifted out from shore into water where Ms. Ingram could not touch bottom. Supporting Lauren, Ms. Ingram waved and called for help to people on shore, among them Patrick, 16, high school student. Patrick and two men waded and swam toward Ms. Ingram and Lauren, who were then about 225 feet out, but the men returned to shore, tired from fighting the waves. Patrick reached Ms. Ingram and Lauren, established a hold on them, then kicked toward shore, relying on the waves to move them to wadable water. They reached shore safely. Ms. Ingram and Lauren were made ill by the ordeal, but they recovered by the next day.
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