On March 21st, 3 experienced paddlers set out to run all of LRC at around 450 cfs on the current gauge. The paddlers were myself (John Eskew,) Thomas Barnes, and John O’Keefe. Below Humpty Dumpty, in a rapid called Wolf Creek, John O’Keefe became stuck in an undercut after missing 2 roll attempts and getting wedged under the rock. John was stuck under the undercut for around 4 minutes until he washed out unresponsive and not breathing.

Prior to this Thomas was trying to throw a rope in the undercut from above, and I was trying to get a rope in to the rapid from the side. After washing out, I was able to get the body and the boat moving towards an eddy. John’s lips were blue, and he was very pale and lifeless. I began rescue breathing while moving John O’Keefe towards a rocky shallow eddy. Once in the eddy, I continued rescue breathing and started chest compressions over his life jacket. I then pinched his nose and gave several deep breaths. I then slapped him to see if he responded. He was unresponsive and I continued CPR.

Thomas Barnes was able to get over to me and he started cpr. We then switched off breathing and chest compressions until John started to make some gurgling noise. We moved him up out of the cold water and took his life jacket off and continued CPR. John slowly started making some gurgling noises and his eyes started rolling around. We continued CPR because we were not sure what the noises meant until he started a very shallow snoring type breathing. After about 15 minutes, Chris Sherrod, Eric Baker, Dane White, Vin Davis and Bill Hart paddled up, and I told them I need help. They provided invaluable assistance getting John stabilized and warm.

With their advice, Thomas and I decided to call in help. According to Paramedic Hamm, the people called in were the repelling party included 3 from Fisher Rescue, 3 from Fort Payne Fire, and Hamm from Dekalb Ambulance Service. John was flown out in a basket by helicopter with the guy who flew down in the basket from Cobb County fire. John O’Keefe regained consciousness and stabilized before he was flown out to Floyd Medical. He was released today and will return to work on Wednesday. Thanks to Kyle Hulsey, Zach Parker, Dalton Creech, and Jerrod Jones for helping us recover the paddle and boat.