Austin Appelbee doesn’t consider himself a hero, but the 13-year-old boy’s survival story is being hailed as a modern-day miracle.
What began as a fun family outing for Joanne Appelbee, 47, and her children, Austin, Beau, 12, and Grace, 8, turned into a nightmare when they drifted miles into the open ocean.
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Facing a life-or-death situation, Joanne made what she called “one of the hardest decisions I ever had to make.”
She allowed Austin to strike out for the shore alone to find help.
Austin made the split-second decision to abandon his inflatable kayak and his life jacket because they were slowing him down in the choppy, cold water. For the next four hours, the teen fought the current, but he says he wasn’t alone.
“I don’t think it was actually me [swimming]… It was God the whole time,” Austin told ABC Australia. “I kept on praying. I kept on praying, and I said to God, ‘I’ll get baptized,’ and I went to church on Sunday.”
Austin told the BBC he maintained “happy thoughts” about his family, his new girlfriend and even Thomas the Tank Engine, and he sang Christian songs to keep his limbs moving.
He told himself, “Just keep on swimming. Just keep on swimming.”
The teen finally reached the shore around 6:00 p.m.
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“I hit the bottom of the beach and I just collapsed,” he said. “There was a lot of foreign people on the beach, so I couldn’t really get much help.”
Despite being on the verge of passing out, he was able to sprint more than a mile to call for emergency help.
“I said, ‘I need helicopters, I need planes, I need boats, my family’s out at sea.’ I was very calm about it,” he recalled.
While the first responders searched for his family, Austin says he worried that he wasn’t fast enough.
Because of his bravery, rescuers located his mother and siblings more than eight and a half miles offshore at 8:30 p.m.
They were all treated for exhaustion at the hospital and the family is back together, by the grace of God.
“The actions of the 13-year-old boy cannot be praised highly enough — his determination and courage ultimately saved the lives of his mother and siblings,” Police Inspector James Bradley said.
“We made it, we’re alive and that’s the most important thing,” Joanne said. As for the “hero” label? Austin remains humble: “I didn’t think I was a hero — I just did what I did.”
Joanne said she never doubted that Austin could save them: “I knew he could do it. He’s always had it in him….He’s absolutely amazing.”
Agreed! Austin is definitely a hero. Good on him for giving credit to God and praying for strength for himself and safety for the rest of his family. We need more men like Austin in this world!
Caleb Parke is an award-winning independent journalist. Follow him on X, Facebook, Instagram, and connect with him at calebparke.com.
