Just an Amazing Story
September 10, 2008 by Kristina Chew, PhD
Filed under Health
If you haven’t read the story on CNN (and also check out MSNBC; thanks, Linda!) of 13-year-old Christopher Marino who treaded water for 15 hours after being caught in a rip tide and swept out to sea eight miles off the coast of Volusia County in Florida—-go here. Christopher and his father, Walter Marino—who treaded water for 12 hours before being found by the Coast Guard—stayed together after darkness fell by calling out phrases from Disney movies:
“To infinity,” Marino shouted, referencing one of Christopher’s favorite lines from the movie “Toy Story.”
“And beyond,” Christopher shouted back, pumping his fist in the air like movie character Buzz Lightyear.
But after an hour, Christopher’s voice faded and his father feared he was gone—-but he was ok, treading the water the whole time.
Jim and I have had Christopher and his father on our minds a lot. As you know, Charlie loves loves the ocean and is a great swimmer, and he often tries to swim out as far as he can—-yes, we’ll always be swimming with the lifeguards on duty!
And just to make the happy ending to Christopher’s and his family’s story even happier:
The one thing Marino knows is that his son still loves the water and that the experience hasn’t taken away that special comfort from him.
“It may be a while before we go back to a beach,” Marino said. “But he still loves the water. He’s already gotten back in a pool.”
I absolutely thought of you and Charlie when I read this article. The story moved me to tears on so many levels. What amazed me most was I heard the story right after it broke and 24 hours later was astounded to hear the boy was on the autism spectrum. I’ll never think of that Disney phrase the same again. Amazing.
I was moved by this. I’m also really glad to hear that Christopher wasn’t affected by that in a negative way. That takes some quite a bit of guts, considering everything. I can kind of see that being part of his personality, though, from what little you can gleam from the article.
Cliff
i saw this on the news this morning…it’s amazing!
Of course I thought of you guys when I saw this, and came over to see if you’d see it yet. Of course you had!
I love those happy endings.
When I walked into the laundromat this morning Matt Lauer on Today show had just introduced them, sound was not too loud, but I got to see the family, it was a long segment too. I noticed that Christopher at times had his head down and hands in ears, etc.
So happy for the family. Will check out CNN article now.
What an amazing father and son. I don’t think I could have survived 12 hours in the ocean. Those guys are HEROES. By far the best story I’ve seen in a long time.
I instantly thought of Charlie when I saw story on the Today show this morning.
I got all choked up when the father was describing how he thought and felt when he was rescued and on the boat, how he couldn’t be upstairs and see his child’s dead body floating, because he thought there was no way his son could have survived the night. Then when they told him to go up on deck and he could hardly force himself to and needed help, right before they told him his son was alive…I’m still tearing up over that part.
Here’s to all those strong swimmers out there!
To infinity, and beyond!
Jim’s been trying to determine how many hours he could tread water……..
“Jim’s been trying to determine how many hours he could tread water”
As soon as I read that I immediately flashed back to the old Bill Cosby routine about Noah
Now it will be going through my head all day!
I cried when I read this article earlier- not only because it was such a happy ending, but because it was so nice to see an article that actually pointed out that autism is not always necessarily a horrendous thing. 2 of my kids are certainly more comfortable in the water than out of it, so it made sense to me.
Wonderful story!
We aren’t ones for the ocean so much but prefer pools. But Andy would probably be just as happy to tread water for hours.
Why was Christopher alone in the water when he has a history of elopment? Why was he allowed to be swimming at dusk while his father watched three other young children under his supervision climbing on the rocks of the jetty? Why was he allowed to swim in an inlet after heavy rains had caused the river feeding the inlet to rise significantly, causing severe currents in the inlet? Why has Chris’s father had a history of losing him which has on many occasions involved the police? These are questions a responsible parent should consider.