[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 68 (Wednesday, May 21, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1002]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      ARLENE NUNES' GUARDIAN ANGEL

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. BARNEY FRANK

                            of massachusetts

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, May 21, 1997

  Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker, all of us in Congress are 
called upon from time to time to provide assistance to people who live 
in our districts and require some guidance in dealing with the 
complexities of one or another bureaucracy. One of the people that the 
excellent staff in my office have been able to help is Ms. Arlene 
Nunes. I was therefore especially moved when I saw Ms. Nunes recently 
and heard her describe the events which are chronicled in the 
accompanying article. The point is that Ms. Nunes having herself been 
in a situation where she experienced health problems and called on us 
to help her in dealing with a bureaucratic maze, drew strength from 
this and was for precisely this reason eager to help someone else who 
was in trouble. I was especially impressed by Ms. Nunes` assertion that 
precisely because she has herself asked others for assistance, she was 
inspired to provide literally life saving assistance to someone else at 
a difficult period. To go from the illness she had within a short 
period of time to being literally a life saver for a fellow human being 
is not only an extraordinary experience, but indicative of an 
extraordinary individual, Arlene Nunes, and I am proud to share this 
experience with others as an example of how adversity of a personal 
sort can sometimes be strengthening and bring out the best in us.

                Arlene Numes, as Told to Veronica Chater

       The blue-green sea spread out before me like a blanket as I 
     waded into the warm water of Lydgate Lagoon on the Hawaiian 
     island of Kauai. Could a month in paradise help me heal? I 
     wasn't sure anything could.
       Only a month before, I'd been lying miserably in a hospital 
     back home in New England, admitted for heart problems and 
     exhausted from multiple sclerosis.
       ``My daughter and I are supposed to be on a plane to 
     Kauai!'' I told the doctor.
       ``Don't worry,'' my 23-year-old daughter Dorene reassured 
     me. ``We'll just postpone the trip. It's not the end of the 
     world.''
       But it felt like it. At 49, with my divorce behind me, I 
     wanted to believe I still had a lot of living to do. But 
     instead, my heart was racing, my left side was weak--and I 
     felt I was falling apart.
       Lying in bed, 17 long days had passed while I wondered if 
     I'd ever feel strong again. But this trip would do more for 
     me than I could have imagined.
       The sun was on my face as I fed tropical fish. I wanted to 
     dive into the glassy blue, but my doctor's words echoed in my 
     mind, Take it easy.
       I'm not much of a swimmer anyway. As a young girl, I had 
     gone swimming in a lake and gotten a cramp in my leg. Before 
     I knew it, I was under. Please help me! I panicked, my lungs 
     ready to burst. Finally, someone pulled me out. But ever 
     since, I couldn't put my head underwater, I'd just paddle and 
     float.
       So I paddled and floated out, and when I could no longer 
     feel the sandy floor, I let the water just support my body.
       I watched a man swim to shore to look after his three 
     children while his wife went in, scuba gear in hand. Then I 
     kept floating out--about 100 feet--to the deepest part of the 
     lagoon.
       There may have been 10 other swimmers, or rather, 
     snorkelers, their breathing straws skimming and bobbing. But 
     my vision was drawn farther out. That's the mother of those 
     children, I realized. It was her jerking movements that had 
     caught my eye. Without making a sound, she threw up her arm, 
     which twisted like a corkscrew. And she was gasping as she 
     tried to yank off her diving mask.
       Instantly, I knew I was witnessing an epileptic seizure; I 
     had seen one years ago. And now, there was only still water 
     where the young mom had been.
       My mind went blank as my body took over. I paddled over as 
     fast as I could, my heart pounding. And then, without 
     thinking, I dove beneath the water.
       I don't even remember pulling the woman to the surface. But 
     suddenly, there I was, floating, holding on to her with my 
     stronger right arm to keep her afloat. And then I found my 
     voice and screamed. ``Help!''
       None of the snorkelers heard me. So I kept screaming, 
     trying to keep the woman--convulsing and grabbing me--from 
     pulling us both under.
       On shore. I saw Dorene jump at the sound of my voice, and 
     she started hollering too. And then the woman's husband 
     realized. ``Ellen,'' he cried ``Ellen!'' The sound of his 
     plaintive cries made my heart break.
       I can't wait for help, I thought. We have to get to shore. 
     So with my weak left arm, I swam with all my might. Will we 
     make it? I panicked. But then I saw a man swimming quickly 
     toward us.
       Panting, he reached us. ``She's having a seizure!'' I 
     cried.
       ``Take her legs,'' he coughed, and together we towed her to 
     shore.
       When my feet finally touched bottom, I shouted to the 
     crowd: ``Get a doctor!'' As it turned out, there was one on 
     the beach, who performed CPR and emptied her lungs of water. 
     Within minutes, she and her family had disappeared in an 
     ambulance.
       Standing in the water, I realized for the first time what 
     had happened, and I started to sob. My fellow rescuer came 
     toward me. ``You saved her life,'' he said.
       ``We did,'' I replied.
       ``You know,'' he said, ``I'd postponed this vacation 
     because I was ill. I was just wading in the water . . .''
       Then I told him my own story. For a moment we just stared 
     at each other, knowing we had shared something incredible.
       Maybe it wasn't just a coincidence that we were here to 
     save that woman, I thought. Maybe, just maybe, God wanted to 
     give us something: the feeling of strength when we felt weak. 
     To show us something: that we could do something wonderful 
     for another when we weren't sure what we could do for 
     ourselves.
       We called the hospital and found that Ellen had been 
     released. She never knew that the stranger who reached out 
     for her that day was me.
       I think about Ellen a lot. Whenever I feel tired or weak, I 
     remember the feeling of my legs and arms moving furiously and 
     a sensation of power taking hold. If I could pull a woman out 
     of the ocean, I can do anything!
       If you ask Ellen, she'd probably tell you that I was her 
     guardian angel. But if you ask me I'd have to say she was 
     mine.

     

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