A Springfield woman who fell into an ice-covered pond last weekend met Wednesday with those who saved her life.
Holly Hesse reunited at a fire station on South Scenic with her rescuers – three days after they pulled her from the frozen pond – and expressed her gratitude for saving her life.
The retired Missouri State University softball coach went onto the pond at Lakeshore Apartments Sunday after her yorkie Bailey and bernedoodle Reba ran onto the ice chasing ducks, and Bailey fell in.
On Wednesday, Hesse, asking with Bailey and Reba, walked into a room lined with those who helped with the rescue and began hugging and thanking each one.
The man who got Hesse out of the water, Tyler Nevins, wasn’t able to be there, but he sent his regards, and he hoped to meet up with her later.
Hesse shared her story in a poem she wrote about the harrowing experience.
"The snow had been deep and the days had been cold, being inside had gotten old, so I grabbed the leashes and put on my hat, and we were off for a walk, just like that," she read. "We went to the lake to see the ducks, and it was there we ran into bad luck. I let Bailey and Reba off their leashes so they could run and play, thinking on the solid ground they would stay. But Bailey and Reba had other goals, and off into the water they both would go. Reba was out on the ice in a blink of an eye, but Bailey was stuck, even harder she tried."
The rest of the poem described how, even though Hesse knew it was risky to go onto the ice, she had to save Bailey.
"So off I went with little thought of all the danger that might be brought," Hesse continued. "I snatched up Bailey and headed back to shore, and that is when we fell through the icy floor."
Hesse said, for about 30 minutes, she was lying with part of her legs and feet up on the ice on one side and her head and shoulders on the ice on the other. The rest of her body was in the water. She doesn’t remember reaching for her phone, but she managed to get to it and called her neighbor. Coming to her senses, she realized she could call 911, hung up on her neighbor and called for a rescue.
Springfield firefighters, who had recently trained in ice rescue, came to her aid. Mark Becker is Springfield Water Rescue team leader and captain at Station 11.
"Our ice rescue training is set up on ponds in the area. We've also used Springfield Lake," he said. "Basically, we go out, and we put a hole in the ice and put one of our rescuers in the ice and then we'll go out and rescue our own."
Hesse said she should never have taken her dogs off their leash in the first place. But, looking back, she said she would still have gone out on the ice to save Bailey. The only thing she would have done differently is to call 911 before she ventured out. She said flipping onto her back when she fell into the pond and remaining calm likely kept her alive until help arrived.
"I did enough wrong things to get the three of us in trouble," she said, "and then I did enough right things to get us so we all got saved."
The Springfield Fire Department says you should never go out onto ice to save someone – instead, call 911 and try to keep the victim calm.
Even though Hesse’s core temperature fell to 91 degrees, she’s fine – there aren’t even any cuts or bruises to show what she went through.
