Turning points: May 06 - Melissa Bevis

Discovering spirituality, realising one’s own bravery, sharing a special moment with a
friend, and finding the love of a family... Four women share their life-changing moments.

Melissa Bevis, 17, saved four adult men from drowning at her local beach and discovered that heroic moments can’t be premeditated; when the time comes, you just do it.

“My family has always lived a stone’s throw away from Port Kembla Beach [on the south coast of NSW] and we’ve always been involved in our beach community. I joined Nippers when I was five and started swimming and learning lifesaving. I’ve always been confident in the water and as I grew older I did volunteer shifts as a rookie lifesaver on our beach. On Boxing Day in 2004, just after my sixteenth birthday, that’s when it all happened. Things have never been the same since.

“There were four of us on duty on the beach that day. The two most senior lifeguards were in the water keeping everyone between the flags when a swimmer came running up to alert Lauren and I that there were some swimmers further out who seemed to be in trouble. Lauren – she’s the lifeguard captain and about three years older than me – called for back-up assistance; I grabbed a rescue tube and went into the surf.

“About 15 metres from the beach I came across four men who were struggling. The conditions were pretty bad that day and these guys had got caught in a gutter off a sandbank. I don’t think they were very strong swimmers and one of them, the heaviest, was really struggling. His head kept going under; I thought I better take him in first. The first thing I did was reassure all four men as best as I could and then I told the one guy to hold on to my tube as it wasn’t big enough to fit around him, and I pulled him in. When we got to the beach he threw up because he’d swallowed so much water. I left him with Lauren and went in to get the others; by the time I reached them, two were really struggling so I pulled them in next.

“Finally I went back for the last guy who had been able to stay afloat. All of them collapsed on the sand when we arrived on the beach. By that time the ambulance and police were all there. I was in shock: my legs were shaking and I was exhausted! I wasn’t even supposed to be swimming that day because I’d recently had an operation. I had quite a few stitches in my mouth and some of them came out during the rescue.

“Everyone then started asking me questions and some of the men’s families came to thank me for what I’d done, but I couldn’t talk. I hadn’t thought at all about what I was doing; I just did it. I then went to my nanna’s for Boxing Day lunch and slept all afternoon and the next day. That week the Illawarra Mercury printed an article about the rescue and a little later my surf club presented me with a Certificate of Achievement. Later, The Daily Telegraph also nominated me for a bravery award. Mum and Dad [Mick and Barbara] are very proud of me, of course. Dad is a lifeguard himself and my younger sister Macee, 14, is doing her lifesaving certificate as well.

“The best thing about this is that I’m no longer a rookie lifeguard; once people realised what I could do, they made me a council lifeguard and now I’m paid to do what I love! I feel very lucky to be able to make a difference to people’s lives.”

 

Words: Melisande Clarke and Josephine Brouard. Photography: Scott Hawkins. Styling: Nicholas Sholl. Hair & Make-Up: David Novak-Piper.