Zac Edwards’s wedding day was a pretty significant event, but not just because he got to marry the love of his life – it was also because he ended up saving the life of a teenager minutes after saying “I do”.
The 37-year-old Coast Guard and his wife Cindy had just tied the knot on the sands of Shell Beach, Alabama last week when disaster struck.
As they were posing for wedding photos, they heard someone screaming for help.
18-year-old Jamel Robinson was trapped in a rip tide 50 yards out from the seashore, and it was clear that he was struggling to stay afloat. Though there were lifeguards on duty at the time, they were busy saving other drowning swimmers from the current.
Cindy immediately urged her newly-wed husband to save the boy. Zac took off his wedding shirt and was about to take off his pants before his wife said there was no time – so without further delay, he took off down the beach.
Before he plunged into the surf, he grabbed a boogie board from some beachgoers and made his way out to the teen. Zac helped the boy onto the board and started helping him back to shore. As they continued swimming, however, the groom started to get tired – and slightly panicked.
“I eventually reached him but we were about half a football field away from the shore. He just kept saying ‘I can’t breathe’,” said Edwards, according to The Daily Mail. “The current was really strong and it was stopping us coming in any further… The pants were making it hard to kick too.”
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Thankfully, a team of rescuers arrived by jet ski and pulled Zac and Jamel out of the water.
“I didn’t really take in the gravity of the situation until I laid down that night. Afterwards, my hands were shaking but the adrenaline was just pumping,” says Zac.
Jamel was shaken, but unharmed by the incident, and he was able to start his senior year of high school this week. He and his mother thanked Zac for the rescue, but the groom says that it was all in a (wedding) day’s work.
(WATCH the interview below)
Pass On This Positively Amazing Rescue Story To Your Friends – Photo by Dream Beach Weddings, LLC