A mother will sacrifice anything for her children—even her own life. A Colorado family learned this the hard way after their mother jumped into a lake to save her little boy.
According to a Yahoo! report, the Lakewood mother, named Chelsey Russell, was with her family during a vacation at Lake Powell in Utah.
The family was aboard on a houseboat when her 2-year-old son fell into the water at about 2:30 p.m.
Without thinking twice, the 35-year-old mother jumped into the water to her son’s rescue. Unfortunately, neither she nor her son was wearing a life jacket when the incident occurred.
“A significant distance developed between the mother and child and the houseboat before the houseboat could be shut down,” the San Juan County Sheriffs Office said in a statement.
“A family member was able to untie a smaller boat being towed from behind the houseboat and get to the mother and child before going completely under the water.”
Chelsey kept her son afloat by holding him above the water until help arrived, authorities said. Sadly, by doing so, Chelsey deprived herself of oxygen. But she still chose to keep her son afloat.
When help arrived, they found the little boy conscious. The mother, however, was not responding when she was pulled from the water.
“Efforts to revive the woman with CPR, but Russell died of heart failure,” the Yahoo! report said. “The child was flown by medical helicopter to an Arizona hospital and later released.”
Chelsey was an attorney working on mineral title examination, business transactions and regulatory matters before the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission.
She was an associate at Welborn, Sullivan, Meck & Tooley, and her colleagues described her as an amazing mother.
“Chelsey was an amazing mother, an exceptional legal talent, an extraordinary athlete, a loyal and generous friend, and left us all better for knowing her,” her firm said on its website. “She is sorely missed.”
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