The lifeguard who was impaled — and nearly killed — by an umbrella on a Jersey Shore beach said she was “very lucky” to have survived the freak accident that was caused by a sudden gust of wind.
Speaking for the first time Wednesday, 18-year-old Alex said she was trying to tie the broken umbrella down when it was whipped around by the wind and driven through her arm.
“I was kind of a little freaked out at first and my brain got heavy because I was like, ‘oh my gosh, I’ve been impaled,’” Alex, who has declined to share her last name, told ABC 7.
18-year-old lifeguard Alex said she feels “very lucky” to be alive after being impaled by an umbrella. WABC
Emergency responders rush to the scene in Asbury Park, NJ. WABC“But then help came and one of my coworkers let me lean against her. And I asked them to put a towel on my head because it was bright and hot.”
The college student was standing on top of an Asbury Park lifeguard stand Wednesday while setting up the umbrella to combat the overwhelming heat wave that was ripping through the metro area.
It is her second year on the job, and she was following standard protocol as she set up the umbrella.
“So we have umbrellas on stands for hot days and we usually have ropes tied to each of them so you can tie them to the stands,” Alex said.
Alex is “bummed” she has to take time off. Getty Images“But the rope was frayed, and it was a little too short to tie, and a gust of wind came. It wasn’t particularly strong, but the wind came and picked the umbrella up and I tried to catch it as it was going off the stand, but it pulled me off of it with it and I landed on the pole.”
Alex remained lucid throughout the harrowing experience, and watched on as firefighters cut off the ends of the stake with a saw.
Despite the shock, Alex remained calm — and later learned that the rod was just a centimeter from blowing through her artery.
“I was very lucky where it hit me because it missed every major blood vessel and it just went through my muscles,” the University of Wisconsin sophomore reflected.
Joe Bongiovanni, the head of Asbury Park’s beach operations, told Patch that it was a close call given Alex’s small stature.
“Two inches to the left, it would have gone through her body,” Bongiovanni said. “She is petite. She’s not even five feet tall on a good day and I’d say she’s 90 pounds.
“It did pierce her lateral muscle, but it never touched the bone.”
Since the accident, Alex — who smiled as she posed in her hospital bed with a piece of the metal pole — has had surgery and received a few stitches.
Now, she’s most concerned with getting back on the lifeguard stand.
“I was bummed when I found out I had to take six weeks off,” said the brave teen.
Bongiovanni said despite it all, Alex was in “great spirits.”
“The doctors told her six to eight weeks of recovery, and she immediately goes ‘Oh good, I can come back to work this summer then.’ She would come back to work tomorrow if she could,” he said. “She is one tough cookie.”
