The Boy Scout motto is, “Be Prepared.” During a particularly difficult sailing race on lake Belton, two scouts, Alex Graves and Tex Mitchell IV, took that to heart.
“We were in a tough spot, where were almost going to run ashore,” says Mitchell IV.
The boys were competing alongside Mitchell IV’s father, Tex Mitchell III, when he suddenly fell ill. Hovering in and out of consciousness, the boys believed that he was suffering from heat stroke. They then had to direct the boat back to the marina without the assistance of Mitchell III, while the two friends performed first aid and kept him cool.
“I went to the front of the boat and lowered the sails and then we didn’t know what to do because we didn’t know what was happening,” Graves says.
They steered the boat safely to the dock and went to the marina to call for help. Coincidentally, a customer at a restaurant on the lake had seen a different sailboat tip over in the harsh conditions and mistakenly thought its occupants were drowning.
With the EMS already at the lake, the boys were able to summon help for Mitchell IV’s father as soon as they arrived on land. It wasn’t until they got to the hospital that they found out he was suffering from something more dire than heat stroke and their quick thinking had been instrumental in saving his life.