John Crispin (right), the anesthesiologist who helped save Richard Russell’s life after a jet ski accident Saturday, shows Russell a video recorded by his wife, Ann Crispin, who performed CPR on Russell. The two met during a short visit at Maine Medical Center in Portland Wednesday, shortly before Russell was released and sent home. (Darcie Moore / The Times Record)
PORTLAND — Some people refuse to be defeated — not by cancer, not by war and not by a flip over the handlebars of their jet ski as an octogenarian.
When 85-year-old Richard Russell of Gardiner was tossed from his jet ski in Georgetown Saturday, he nearly drowned. He doesn’t remember how it happened but remembers being in the water yelling for help. He can’t swim and couldn’t reach the jet ski as the swells rolled over his head. He was alone in the water, struggling to keep his head up, his life jacket the only thing preventing him from sinking below.
“I went down again and I said, ‘I lived for 85 years,’” he said Wednesday. “I didn’t want to die this way but it’s going to be someway. And I was calm. It didn’t bother me at all. I’m scared to death of water.”
Lucky for him, he wasn’t alone on the water that day.
A nearby lobsterman, Jamie Pinkham, and his sternman, Merle Leask, saw Russell fall and rushed to help, according to Georgetown’s fire chief. Russell had been face-down in the water for about two minutes by the time Pinkham and Leask pulled him into their boat. He wasn’t breathing.
Meanwhile, John and Ann Crispin were boating from their home in Westport Island to Bath Saturday morning for the farmers market, just as they have every Saturday this summer. Their adult daughters were with them, visiting from out of state. The family’s boat had just passed through Goose Rock Passage near MacMahan Island in Georgetown when the day took an unexpected turn.
“I saw a lobster boat and what I thought was a kayak without someone on it and I saw another powerboat slowing down,” John Crispin recalled Tuesday.
Crispin slowed and could see it wasn’t a kayak but a jet ski with no rider. The powerboat was tying up next to the lobster boat and as he approached, a man yelled for Crispin to grab the jet ski.
“I said, ‘Where’s the rider?’ and they pointed down inside of the lobster boat, and I said, ‘Is he OK?’ And they said, ‘No.'”
Everything happened quickly. The Crispins pulled up alongside the powerboat and their children hung on while John and Ann leaped from their boat to the powerboat to the lobster boat. A nurse, who asked to remain anonymous, aboard the powerboat had already jumped on the fishing vessel and started CPR, emptying ocean water from Russell’s lungs and breathing for him. Russell had a very weak pulse and was gasping for air, often a symptom of stroke or cardiac arrest.
John Crispin is an anesthesiologist of 30 years with Spectrum Medical Group and Ann Crispin is a nurse of 34 years at Mid Coast Hospital in Brunswick. She also teaches CPR for the hospital.
While both have performed CPR many times, they’ve never done it outside a hospital. Working among the chum and fish parts on the lobster boat, they knew what to do.
Ann and John Crispin happened across a jet ski accident in Georgetown Saturday and helped save an 85-year-old man’s life. (Photo Courtesy of Ann Crispin)
“We didn’t even talk, we just kind of did it,” Ann Crispin said.
She started chest compressions while her husband used a boat fender to stabilize Russell’s neck and open his airway. Russell’s breathing and pulse improved after about 2 minutes of CPR.
Meanwhile, Pinkham drove the boat toward Robinhood Marina about a mile away. Once ashore, Russell was alert enough to move all his extremities and tell John Crispin that he didn’t have any allergies.
“This is an example of why it’s so important for people to learn basic life support,” Ann Crispin said. “It’s amazing he’s alive. This guy must have more work to do on this earth.”
She said anyone can visit the American Heart Association online and find a training center to sign up for a Family and Friends CPR course.
Age is just a number
Russell’s family is grateful to all the strangers who helped saved his life and overwhelmed by their kindness.
“The timing was just right, as far as the right people in the right place at the right time,” said Russell’s son, Richard “Rocky” Russell.
He lives in Florida and when he first got the call Saturday afternoon, he didn’t initially realize how serious his father’s accident was.
His father has a broken sternum and foot bone but wanted to go home on Tuesday. An ex-marine, Richard Russell saw action during the Korean War. He served three years and spent 11 months in Korea, toward the end of the conflict.
“I think they heard I was coming so they cut the war off,” he joked during an interview.
“He’s just an old, stubborn, tough marine,” his son said.
Russell’s daughter, Debra Russell, lives in Gardiner and had boated ahead of him to Boothbay Harbor Saturday when she got the call from Marine Patrol about the accident. It was a nice day and her father had planned to meet her for lunch at The Tugboat Inn and Restaurant.
She said her father was grumpy Tuesday after the doctor told him he shouldn’t be on a jet ski at his age.
“He always tells us, ‘It’s just a number,'” she said.
Her dad, who owned a motorcycle repair business in Gardiner for 36 years, still drives a three-wheeled motorcycle five months out of the year. He’s always owned boats but bought his Sea-Doo jet ski about a year ago because it was easier to haul around.
While it will take about 10 weeks for Russell’s chest to heal, he expects to be back out on the jet ski next year.
“What am I going to do, sit at home on the couch?” he said.
The three-time cancer survivor and grandfather of three said he’s had a lot of fun in his life.
“I want to make a few more years,” he said. “I’ve got a few more people to irritate.”
Meeting one of his rescuers
Richard Russell, 85, splits wood recently at his Gardiner home. (Photo courtesy of Debra Russell)
Looking at him today, one wouldn’t guess Russell had been listed in critical condition at Maine Medical Center over the weekend after his crash. Tuesday night he moved from the ICU to a regular hospital room and was released Wednesday afternoon.
“I’m breaking out,” he said as he finished eating his grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup in his hospital room.
The first couple days were bad, he acknowledged, and he was cut up and badly bruised.
He got dressed and was waiting for his ride home when John Crispin, the anesthesiologist who helped rescue him, stopped by the hospital for a visit.
“Oh my gosh, you look a hell of a lot better than the last time I saw you,” Crispin said.
Crispin showed Russell a short video message his wife recorded for Russell.
“Sorry you didn’t make it to lunch in Boothbay, but I’m really glad you made it,” she said. “Word has it you’re an ex-marine so I know you’re probably a tough guy and I’d like to thank you for your service. So you take care of yourself and be safe out there.”
Crispin and Russell shared their recollections of the day and talked about meeting up in Boothbay Harbor later.
“I can’t thank you enough,” Russell told Crispin. “You guys saved my life.
“Pay it forward,” Crispin said.
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