When Alison Ambroso recalls how she ran toward the docks of Langford Lake on Saturday, ripped off her jeans and jumped into the water after a call for help, it’s the silence of the bystanders that sticks with her.
Ambroso, a 41-year-old former lifeguard, was walking with her husband and his parents when she looked out onto the docks and saw people staring into the water. “It was oddly quiet” until she heard a boy call for help. It’s hard for her to estimate now how deep the lake-bottom was, but she believes it was much deeper than the boy’s height, which she believes is about six feet.
Bystanders had ferried first responders to the floating dock in two boats and Langford Fire Rescue used its boat to transfer the teen to an ambulance. Lento said she’s not a close family friend, just a co-worker who wants desperately to help McKay as he takes time off work and deals with unexpected expenses. She got his permission to set up the fund, she said.