Chris Carroll and his wife were on vacation in St. Croix, celebrating their anniversary earlier this month, when a call for help shattered an otherwise calm Caribbean afternoon.
Chris, an RN who is the director of surgical services at Holy Cross Hospital – Mountain Point in Lehi, Utah, was standing on his second floor balcony shortly after a morning of scuba diving with his wife at Fredericksted Pier, just a few miles from their hotel. He suddenly heard a lot of commotion on the usually quiet beach below him. It looked like someone was struggling in the water.
He dashed down to the beach to see if he could help. As he approached the water he heard an “ungodly scream” from a woman who was struggling about 50 yards offshore. He ran into the water and began swimming toward her. When he got within about 10 feet of the woman, he could see a large amount of blood in the water. He paused for a moment.
“I called out to her,” Carroll said, “and when she turned around to look at me, I saw that her left arm was gone. And so at that moment, I knew it was a shark attack. I knew it was a big shark and that it was aggressive. That's when it became really terrifying. I kind of had the urge to swim away. But I just decided at that moment that I wasn't going to leave her out there. And so I swam over. I grabbed her, put her in the tow position, and started swimming her back to shore.
“She was terrified, and so I tried to calm her down, you know, just asked her, her name. She said her name was Arlene. I asked her if she had a family, and she said, yeah, she had a daughter and a husband. And I said, 'all right, we're going to make it back to them. I'm going to get you to the beach. We're going to get you to the hospital. You're going to be okay.'
"I just tried to reassure her. And so that was a very long swim back. I had a lot of fear," Carroll said.
As he approached the beach, other bystanders came out into the water to assist, helping lift the woman onto the sand. St. Croix first responders arrived quickly thereafter.
The 56-year-old Minnesotan was transported to the hospital, where she later died from her injuries.
Carroll told media just after the incident: “If anything comes out of this, I just want people to care enough about each other to help — in any way you can.”
Virgin Islands Governor Albert Bryan Jr. released the following statement: “We are grateful to the bystanders who acted immediately to render aid and to the first responders who worked urgently and bravely in an effort to save her life.”
A few days later, Carroll was invited by the governor and territorial senator to attend the Government House, where he was honored for his heroism.
Co-workers say that they are not surprised by Carroll’s response in the situation. He is naturally a compassionate person.
“Nursing is not just a job to me," he said. "It’s a calling. Firefighters, police, soldiers, doctors, nurses – all of us are called to help people when they’re in trouble and when they’re at risk. And so it was a natural thing to do.”
