A Deerfield teen helped rescue a 65-year-old man and his 11-year-old son after he spotted the two struggling to stay afloat in big waves off the coast of Maui on Christmas Eve.
Buffalo Grove resident Anna Razdolsky said she was vacationing at the Fairmont Kea Lani resort in Wailea, Hawaii, when she spotted Alex Spungen trying to a help a man back to shore who she said appeared to be completely unresponsive.
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“(Spungen) had somebody in his arms and the waves were covering him. And I see he’s trying to hold onto the body,” Razdolsky said. “To me it was a dead body. He was dragging a dead body. The man he was carrying did not move. He was motionless.”
Spungen, a student at Northwestern University, said he was swimming at Polo Beach, located in front of the resort, and noticed an 11-year-old boy floating in the waves near a buoy marking the maximum distance swimmers should stray from the shore. He said the 11-year-old called for helped and the 65-year-old man swam out to him.
He said the two appeared to be struggling to make it back to shore in the rough surf.
“The kid started calling out for help again and that’s when I realized they were in trouble,” Spungen said.
Spungen said he helped guide the child back to the shore and when he turned around the boy’s father was still in the water.
“He was unresponsive,” he said. “I dragged him back closer to shore and people at the beach noticed and helped me carry him onto the shore.”
Maui fire officials responded to the scene shortly before 1 p.m. Dec. 24, said Edward Taomoto, fire services chief for the Maui Fire Department. A report filed by the fire captain on scene said the 65-year-old man was found lying on the beach and was attended to by the resort’s security staff. The report states the man appeared “really exhausted” and “he must have blacked out because he only remembered waking up on shore.”
According to the fire official’s account, Spungen assisted the man’s 11-year-old son back to shore while bystanders helped pull the father to safety.
Taomoto said the man was transported to Maui Memorial Medical Center. He said he wasn’t aware of his current condition.
Spungen said medical professionals on scene told him the man would be fine and “that was the last I heard of him.”
Razdolsky said she spotted the struggling swimmers while beachgoers participated in a Christmas-themed celebration. She said she discerned something was wrong from Spungen’s face . Razdolsky said she called for help and told beachgoers to call 911. Her husband, Yan, who practices orthodontics in Buffalo Grove, helped carry the man ashore, according to Razdolsky.
Razdolsky said she was so impressed by Spungen’s heroic act that she asked for his name and where he was from. The two learned they live in neighboring communities and have since discovered mutual connections through her husband’s orthodontics practice.
Razdolsky publicized the incident via her Facebook page because she said she believes Spungen “deserves the recognition.”
Spungen, who graduated from Deerfield High School this year, said he acted on instinct.
“Basically, I saw somebody was struggling and I didn’t have time to think what’s the best thing to do. I just thought what is the quickest and fastest thing to do to help these people,” he said. “It wasn’t until after I helped them that I realized, wow, I saved these people from significant harm.”
Spungen said he’s “brushed off” the recognition he’s received from friends and acquaintances since the rescue was publicized.
“I’m sure there are plenty of other people who have done the same thing and have gone unnoticed. But it feels good being able to help people out,” he said.
Lee V. Gaines is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.