A chemistry assignment almost turned into tragedy for one Bowling Green State University student.
Kaileigh Oldfield was assigned a chemistry project to examine the different types of phosphorus levels between various water sources within Ohio.
“So, in western Ohio, you have a more agricultural-based pollution. And then in eastern Ohio, you have more industrial-type pollution. So, I figured it would be kind of cool to compare two levels,” Oldfield said.
She had already collected a sample from Lake Erie and wanted to travel to the Cuyahoga State National Park to collect some samples from the Cuyahoga River.
When she went to reach down for her sample, Oldfield said the branch she was holding on to snapped, causing her to fall into deep water where she could not stand.
Oldfield remained calm and talked herself through it.
“It was like an out-of-body type experience. Physically, my body was present, but my mind was sort of separated. So I explained it to people as my body was panicking, but my mind was fairly calm," she said.
Oldfield said she’s not sure how long she was actually in the water, but remembers the moment she realized she was safe.
Hannah, a bystander who was walking through the park when she saw Oldfield in the water, came to her rescue.
“And then out of the corner of my eye, I see this flash of green, and it's this lady approaching and she has her dog. And because the bank is sort of elevated, the dog was on my level, but the people were not," Oldfield said.
In that moment, Hannah pulled Oldfield onto the bank of the river. That's when the scariness of the situation set in.
"And it was sort of a team effort, she pulled and I would pull with my upper body strength and we had to take a break because it was very physically intensive. And so after a few rounds of that, she was able to get me on the bank," said Oldfield. "And that's sort of when I realized how cold the water had been, because my lower body was pretty much numb by this point. So if it hadn't been drowning, it almost certainly would have been hypothermia."
Even though it was a terrifying life-threatening experience, Oldfield wants people to remember a deeper message.
“I think my final message would just be, 'we need to protect our natural resources so that people don't have to test water samples and fall in rivers,'" she said.
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