Bystander shares story of how he helped amputee after Bear Lake boating accident

HIGHLAND — A man who helped apply tourniquets to a woman who lost both legs in a weekend boating accident at Bear Lake said Tuesday he was grateful he happened to be in the right place at the right time.

According to the Bear Lake County Sheriff's Office, a woman in her mid-30s was tubing when the propeller of the boat that was towing her somehow struck her, causing the injuries.

Dan Taylor said he and his family were roughly 4 miles north of the Utah-Idaho border on the east side of the lake, and they were just getting out onto the water themselves when he saw a boat coming to shore.

"Everybody was out on the bow shouting, 'Help, help, please help,'" Taylor said during an interview with KSL. "Somebody on the boat said, 'Get the kids out of here.'"

Taylor said his wife was further out in the water at the time and saw something around the back of the boat.

"She told me to get my paddleboard up to the side of the boat to use as a gurney," he recalled. "She just looked at me, and she just said, 'Go get your tourniquet.'"

When he returned, it became obvious how dire the situation was for the injured woman.

"Immediately, we could see that both legs were missing," Taylor said.

He and his family members applied the tourniquet to one wound and then used a strap on the other.

He said medics didn't make it to the scene for another 10 to 15 minutes.

"The victim was so courageous, and she was conscious through the whole thing," Taylor said. "Her spirit of just staying in the moment and staying calm was nothing I ever could have conceived in a situation like that."

Not everybody carries around a tourniquet, but Taylor said he had stored one in his van because he likes to be prepared in case of emergencies, and just three weeks earlier, the topic had come up in a first-aid class for a mountain bike team.

"I had to get first-aid and CPR certified, and so I was at the training," Taylor explained. "They passed around a big pool noodle and had us, like, apply a tourniquet, and so it was just really, really front of mind."

Taylor remembered praying for the woman until medics and an ambulance arrived, followed by a helicopter.

"An hour in that situation just felt like an eternity," he said. "With bleeding that severe, minutes can be something that ends somebody's life."

Since the accident, a GoFundMe* account has been set up to help the woman.

The organizers said they wished to keep the woman's identity private, but said she was a "devoted wife, loving mother of three, and cherished friend."

The Bear Lake County Sheriff's Office, in a Facebook post, credited the swift action of the bystanders in applying the tourniquets.

"These actions ultimately saved her life," the post stated.

Taylor said it seemed providential that the boat came to shore for help where it did.

"I know the term, 'miracle,' gets thrown around a lot, but it was absolutely miraculous to think about of all the places that they could have been and how many people in that whole beach and how many of them have a tourniquet, and of those people, how many of those people had a first-aid training and it was front of mind three weeks ago?" Taylor said.

He said he was grateful to have been where he was.

"I wouldn't trade it for anything because with my wife and my family's help, I felt like it just made a huge difference," Taylor said. "The investment of a little medical kit and some tourniquets and a little bit of training, you know, I just felt like it made all the difference in this situation."

*KSL.com does not assure that the money deposited into the account will be applied for the benefit of the persons named as beneficiaries. If you are considering a deposit to the account, you should consult your own advisers and otherwise proceed at your own risk.

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