HAMPTON, N.H. (WHDH) - Two Medford boys rushed into the ocean at Hampton Beach to rescue a woman knocked over by a wave.
Maggie Hand of Salisbury was wading in waist-deep water with her grandson on Aug. 20 when a wave pushed her down.
“Every time (the water) went back out, my body would just get pushed further and further away and just go with the waves,” she recalled. “I panicked. I totally panicked.”
Hand began to scream for help, which caught the attention of Jacob Wright and Zach Bertocchi, both 12 years old from Medford, Massachusetts.
They rushed into the ocean and help keep Hand’s head above the water as other people on the beach ran in to help lift her up.
“When you see someone who needs help, you help them,” Wright said. “It’s what people are supposed to do.”
The good Samaritans got Hand to shore, where she thanked Wright and Bertocchi for noticing her in distress.
“If it wasn’t for them, I may not be here,” she said.
Hand usually wears a brace on her foot to help her walk but she had taken it off to go in the water, thinking she would be able to handle it.
“Those waves were rough that day,” she said. “I just know now not to go in when it’s rough.”
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