Photo: Go Fund Me
A North Carolina father of 7 died on Sunday as he heroically tried to rescue four of his children who were drowning in the rough waters of the state’s Wrightsville Beach.
“You couldn’t ask for a better person,” she told the ABC/CBS/CW-affiliate, adding that she was in shock and denial. “You could have took anybody else. I mean me personally, I would’ve preferred to take me than him.”
They had been walking alongside a submerged jetty wall around 4 p.m. local time when they fell into the water.
“He never hesitated,” Dawn told WECT-6. “He threw everything down — phone, keys — and ran out there.”
Capt. Jason Bishop of the Wrightsville Beach Police Department told ABC News that Johnny was able to pull one of his children to safety but was unable to stay above the current after he dove back in for the second.
Bystanders and lifeguards on the beach ran to help, but Johnny insisted they save his kids first, Dawn told WECT-6. “They could’ve easily saved him,” she recalled. “He said, ‘Forget about me. Get my kids.’ He didn’t care about nothing else.”
After the children were safely on shore, emergency crews found Johnny submerged in the water, WECT-6 reported.
“His spirit is still alive and we’re all going to remember him as a hero,” Johnny’s daughter Kierstyn told WECT-6.
His family, who recently moved from Detroit, Michigan, to Durham,have since started a GoFundMe pageto help pay for a number of expenses, including potential grief counseling, relocation expenses, and funeral costs of moving Johnny back home to Detroit to be buried next to his mother.
“Our family is extremely grateful for any financial support and words of encouragement,” the message continues. “Nothing is too small or insignificant, so please feel free to share stories and pictures of Johnny! Thank You.”
RELATED VIDEO: Grieving Mom Aims to Save Other Children After 3-Year-Old Son Drowns
Days ago, a Georgia father visiting southwest Florida with his family pulled his 8-year-old daughter to safety from a dangerous rip current in the Gulf of Mexico before he drowned.
source: people.com
