A teenage lifeguard has been hospitalized after getting impaled by an umbrella at a beach in New Jersey earlier this week.
According to WABC, Alex, who did not want her last name to be publicly known, required surgery after the one-inch-thick rod of the umbrella pierced through her armpit and exited her back on Wednesday (June 25), missing her artery by a mere centimeter. She also received a "few stitches."
"I was very lucky where it hit me because it missed every major blood vessel and it just went through my muscles," she said. "So there wasn't any serious damage. It could've been so much worse, actually."
Alex said she was trying to fasten the beach umbrella to her chair when a gust of wind set off the unusual series of events.
"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," she said. "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 recalled paramedics providing her with something to alleviate the pain before firefighters cut off the ends of the pole in order for her to be transported to the hospital.
"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,'" she said. "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."
According to Asbury Park Fire Department Battalion Chief Christopher Barkalow, Alex never lost consciousness throughout the ordeal, and only complained about the heat. "She actually was way better than most people would be, she did very well, she just really complained about the heat so I will give her credit, she was tough," Barkalow said.
Alex just finished her freshman year at the University of Wisconsin when she returned to lifeguard for a second year. While she plans on returning to the beach to see her fellow lifeguards, it will be a while before she can go back to lifeguarding.
"I was bummed when I found out I had to take six weeks off," she said.
