LEHI, Utah — A Lehi nurse is being called a hero after he was on vacation in the Caribbean and risked his own safety to try and save a woman being attacked by a shark. Chris Carroll was recently honored by the Virgin Islands Governor for his heroism.
According to CommonSpirit Health, Carroll was on a vacation with his wife to St. Croix to celebrate their anniversary when calls for help interrupted their calm afternoon.
Carroll, a registered nurse who is the director of surgical services at Holy Cross Hospital - Mountain Point in Lehi, was standing on his second-floor balcony when he heard a lot of commotion on the usually quiet beach below him.
Carroll reportedly dashed downstairs and onto the beach when he heard an "ungodly scream" from a woman about 50 yards from the shore. Without hesitation, he sprang into action.
When Carroll ran to the beach to help, instead of seeing a shark like everyone else did, he only saw someone in need. He said it wasn’t until he was about 10 feet away that he realized this was a shark attack.
“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."
He still thinks he would have gone out to help if he knew from the start.
"I swam over and grabbed her, put her in tow, and started swimming back with her,” Carroll said. "I asked her name, she told me her name was Arlene, asked if she had family, kids, she was conscious all the way to the beach, but that was the longest, most terrifying swim of my entire life.”
Carroll said that despite the terrifying circumstances, he wasn't deterred from helping.
"I kind of had the urge to swim away," Carroll remembered. "But I just decided at that moment that I wasn't going to leave her out there."
As they approached the beach, other bystanders came into the water to assist in lifting the victim onto the sand. The victim, a 56-year-old from Minnesota, was taken to the hospital but later died from her injuries.
The Virgin Islands Government took notice of Carroll's bravery in the situation and was invited by the Governor to attend a meeting to be honored for his heroism.
“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,” Virgin Islands Governor Albert Bryan Junior said.
He’s been in contact with the victim’s family in Minnesota since the incident.
“She was a pharmacist,” he said. “She worked in a hospital like I do. I didn’t know her, but I can tell that she was a great person, who was greatly loved by her family and the people that knew her.”
