By Paul Wilson
The Hamilton Spectator
More articles by this columnist
(Mar 7, 2007)
February was frigid, and March is a brute, too. Down on the lake, this cold is changing the landscape. The ice banks are here. They always give me a thrill.
I did some of my growing up on the shores of Lake Huron, on the outskirts of Sarnia. The walk to Blackwell Public School was just more than a mile. You could get there along Lakeshore Road. Or in winter, you could run all the way home on the ice banks. Scramble up the peaks, leap over the crevasses.
I'm sure we were told not to. Go out too far on one of those ledges, and you could end up trapped in the icy water.
The banks that now line Hamilton's Beach Strip weren't there until the big Valentine's Day storm.
Carol Oikawa, who's seen nine winters at Hutch's Restaurant, says the day after that storm people were climbing over the banks.
"I'll call 911 if I see someone go through," she says, "but I'm not going onto the ice after them."
She saw last week's story from Grimsby. An 11-year-old boy fell through the ice along the shore. His brother, 13, ran for their father. Dad, 46, fell in himself. So did the family dog.
Emergency crews got father and son out after more than 15 minutes. They had hypothermia. The dog died.
Tomorrow marks the 25th anniversary of another Grimsby-boy-through-the-ice incident. I remember it because I covered the story.
Matthew Boltz was four. On March 8, 1982, he wandered down to the lake with a three-year-old friend. They passed two Bell linemen en route.
The children played near the shore. Matthew fell over a bank into broken ice and water. The Bell workers saw his friend run home crying. They spotted Matthew face down in the water. They phoned from the line for an ambulance.
Gary Chisholm of Dundas jumped in and pulled Matthew out. He was stiff and cold, his heart and breathing stilled. He may have been there for more than 10 minutes.
The other Bell worker, Chuck Smith of Dundas, worked on Matthew until help arrived.
Doctors at West Lincoln Memorial Hospital in Grimsby laboured over Matthew's lifeless 45-pound body. His temperature had plummeted from a normal 37 C to 24 C.
The doctors tried to shock life into the tiny heart and pumped in heated salt water to warm his body from within. Then they moved Matthew by helicopter to Toronto's Sick Children's Hospital.
His parents, Darryl and Trudy, drove there. Trudy was an RN at the Grimsby hospital. She knew what the odds were. On that drive they talked of a funeral.
At Sick Children's, the doctors made no promises. Even if Matthew survived, brain damage was a real possibility after that long without oxygen.
But the frigid water saved him. The lowered brain temperature had kept the damaging reactions at bay.
I showed up at the hospital four days after the accident and took a picture of a happy boy eating a hamburger.
Twenty five years later, Trudy Boltz is still an RN at the Grimsby hospital. The family lives in St. Catharines now.
Son Matthew, who works on the line at DuraCoat Powder Manufacturing in Grimsby, lives not far from his parents. So does daughter Heidi, who became a paramedic.
"We're a very close family, and I think what happened that day has something to do with it," Trudy said.
Her son grew up normal in every way. Not long after the accident, he took swimming lessons and loves the water.
This past Valentine's Day, Matthew turned 29. With the family all around, he and his girlfriend, Michele, announced they're getting married this summer. And everyone relived what happened all those years ago.
There was talk of closing the old Grimsby hospital. That didn't happen, and now a new one's been promised.
Naturally, Trudy believes that's a good thing. "If it had not been for that hospital, I wouldn't have a son."
StreetBeat appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
pwilson@thespec.com 905-526-3391
Photo#1-Gary Yokoyama, the Hamilton Spectator
A wall of ice, above, off Van Wagners Beach yesterday.
Photo#2- Forum photo taken from the top of the lakeland lighthouse. Thanks to Yvonne and Loretta at the HCA for allowing me access during the closed season.
The Hamilton Spectator
More articles by this columnist
(Mar 7, 2007)
February was frigid, and March is a brute, too. Down on the lake, this cold is changing the landscape. The ice banks are here. They always give me a thrill.
I did some of my growing up on the shores of Lake Huron, on the outskirts of Sarnia. The walk to Blackwell Public School was just more than a mile. You could get there along Lakeshore Road. Or in winter, you could run all the way home on the ice banks. Scramble up the peaks, leap over the crevasses.
I'm sure we were told not to. Go out too far on one of those ledges, and you could end up trapped in the icy water.
The banks that now line Hamilton's Beach Strip weren't there until the big Valentine's Day storm.
Carol Oikawa, who's seen nine winters at Hutch's Restaurant, says the day after that storm people were climbing over the banks.
"I'll call 911 if I see someone go through," she says, "but I'm not going onto the ice after them."
She saw last week's story from Grimsby. An 11-year-old boy fell through the ice along the shore. His brother, 13, ran for their father. Dad, 46, fell in himself. So did the family dog.
Emergency crews got father and son out after more than 15 minutes. They had hypothermia. The dog died.
Tomorrow marks the 25th anniversary of another Grimsby-boy-through-the-ice incident. I remember it because I covered the story.
Matthew Boltz was four. On March 8, 1982, he wandered down to the lake with a three-year-old friend. They passed two Bell linemen en route.
The children played near the shore. Matthew fell over a bank into broken ice and water. The Bell workers saw his friend run home crying. They spotted Matthew face down in the water. They phoned from the line for an ambulance.
Gary Chisholm of Dundas jumped in and pulled Matthew out. He was stiff and cold, his heart and breathing stilled. He may have been there for more than 10 minutes.
The other Bell worker, Chuck Smith of Dundas, worked on Matthew until help arrived.
Doctors at West Lincoln Memorial Hospital in Grimsby laboured over Matthew's lifeless 45-pound body. His temperature had plummeted from a normal 37 C to 24 C.
The doctors tried to shock life into the tiny heart and pumped in heated salt water to warm his body from within. Then they moved Matthew by helicopter to Toronto's Sick Children's Hospital.
His parents, Darryl and Trudy, drove there. Trudy was an RN at the Grimsby hospital. She knew what the odds were. On that drive they talked of a funeral.
At Sick Children's, the doctors made no promises. Even if Matthew survived, brain damage was a real possibility after that long without oxygen.
But the frigid water saved him. The lowered brain temperature had kept the damaging reactions at bay.
I showed up at the hospital four days after the accident and took a picture of a happy boy eating a hamburger.
Twenty five years later, Trudy Boltz is still an RN at the Grimsby hospital. The family lives in St. Catharines now.
Son Matthew, who works on the line at DuraCoat Powder Manufacturing in Grimsby, lives not far from his parents. So does daughter Heidi, who became a paramedic.
"We're a very close family, and I think what happened that day has something to do with it," Trudy said.
Her son grew up normal in every way. Not long after the accident, he took swimming lessons and loves the water.
This past Valentine's Day, Matthew turned 29. With the family all around, he and his girlfriend, Michele, announced they're getting married this summer. And everyone relived what happened all those years ago.
There was talk of closing the old Grimsby hospital. That didn't happen, and now a new one's been promised.
Naturally, Trudy believes that's a good thing. "If it had not been for that hospital, I wouldn't have a son."
StreetBeat appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
pwilson@thespec.com 905-526-3391
Photo#1-Gary Yokoyama, the Hamilton Spectator
A wall of ice, above, off Van Wagners Beach yesterday.
Photo#2- Forum photo taken from the top of the lakeland lighthouse. Thanks to Yvonne and Loretta at the HCA for allowing me access during the closed season.