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<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cI honestly thought I was going to lose my family that day,\u201d Roberta Ursrey said. \u201cIt was like, \u2018Oh God, this is how I\u2019m going.\u2019 \u201d<\/h3>\n
PANAMA CITY BEACH \u2014 It was supposed to just be a quick trip to the beach, but the Saturday afternoon diversion to the water almost ended in unspeakable tragedy for Roberta Ursrey and her family.<\/p>\n
Ursrey and her husband, mother, nephews and sons were enjoying the sun and yellow-flag conditions near the M.B. Miller County Pier. Ursrey herself had just left the water, but when she turned around to look for her sons, she noticed they were much farther from shore than she remembered. Concerned, she started walking down the beach.<\/p>\n
And then she heard their screams.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey were screaming and crying that they were stuck,\u201d Ursrey recalled in an interview Monday. \u201cPeople were saying, \u2018Don\u2019t go out there.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n
Unwilling to watch them drown, Ursrey and her family swam out to them, but the rip current was much stronger than they realized and despite her best efforts to escape, they were trapped as well. All in all, Ursrey said there were nine people stuck in about 15 feet of water, including her mother, who suffered a massive heart attack during the ordeal and very nearly died.<\/p>\n
\u201cI honestly thought I was going to lose my family that day,\u201d Ursrey said. \u201cIt was like, \u2018Oh God, this is how I\u2019m going.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n
It might have been, had Jessica Simmons and her husband not decided on a last minute, beach-side dinner that afternoon. Or if she hadn\u2019t stopped to pick up leftover trash and happened to grab a discarded boogie board, intending to keep it for when her godchildren visited. But sitting on the sandbar after a quick dip in the water, Simmons realized everyone on the beach was facing a different direction and pointing.<\/p>\n
\u201cI automatically thought they had seen a shark,\u201d Simmons said. \u201cI ran back to shore and my husband ran over to them. … That\u2019s when I knew someone was drowning.\u201d<\/p>\n
Simmons isn\u2019t the type of person to stand by and watch someone in distress. Back in Alabama, where she\u2019s from, Simmons said she once walked 11 miles after a tornado to help people clean up their mess and get their lives back together. So when she saw Ursrey\u2019s family in trouble, she grabbed the boogie board and started toward them while her husband and a few other men started a human chain to bring the swimmers back to shore.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese people are not drowning today,\u201d Simmons remembered telling herself. \u201cIt\u2019s not happening. We\u2019re going to get them out.\u201d<\/p>\n
As Simmons paddled, the human chain grew, with 80 people stretching over 100 yards out to the distressed swimmers. Some of them couldn\u2019t swim, Simmons said, but wanted to help and stayed in the shallows. Others stood in water up to their necks, waiting for Simmons and her husband to cover the last few feet so they could pass the swimmers to shore.<\/p>\n
\u201cI got to the end, and I know I\u2019m a really good swimmer,\u201d Simmons said. \u201cI practically lived in a pool. I knew I could get out there and get to them.\u201d<\/p>\n
What Simmons found at the end of the human chain, she said, was shocking. Ursrey\u2019s mother was exhausted, her eyes were rolling back and Simmons remembered her \u201cdrinking so much water\u201d and \u201ctelling us to just let her go and save us.\u201d Everyone was exhausted, the waves knocking them under. One by one, starting with the children, Simmons and her husband, along with a few other rescuers, towed the swimmers to the human chain, who then pulled them all to shore.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was the most remarkable thing to see,\u201d Simmons said. \u201cThese people who don\u2019t even know each other and they trust each other that much to get them to safety.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ursrey doesn\u2019t remember being rescued, just waking up on shore after she passed out. Her mother, she said, ended up coding in the ambulance, but was was brought back to life and is still in the hospital. Her nephew had a broken hand, but otherwise everyone is recuperating after their ordeal.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am so grateful,\u201d Ursrey said. \u201cThese people were God\u2019s angels that were in the right place at the right time. I owe my life and my family\u2019s life to them. Without them, we wouldn\u2019t be here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Looking back, Simmons said it wasn\u2019t so much about what she did to help rescue the family, but everyone dropping what they were doing to help.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s so cool to see how we have our own lives and we\u2019re constantly at a fast pace, but when somebody needs help, everybody drops everything and helps,\u201d Simmons said. \u201cThat was really inspiring to see that we still have that.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith everything going on in the world, we still have humanity,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n