A family is doing all they can to raise funds for a young man’s wedding after he helped save the life of their 10-year-old daughter from drowning.
10-year-old Haylee Whitting was playing in the sea in Monterey, California in August with her family and found herself unable to come close to the shore as she was caught in a rip current at the time even as her frantic mother, Samantha kept shouting for her to do so.
The current dragged Haylee far out to sea, and the young girl was suddenly facing death and thinking, ‘This is not happening. There’s no way I’m being pulled out.’ Samantha desperately tried rescuing and even managed to reach Haylee, but she ‘underestimated the current’ and found that the water was slowly taking both of [them] down.’
Haylee was ‘terrified’, and her screaming alerted Kevin Cozzi, who was on the beach with his fiancée. He said he’s been swimming competitively since the age of 3 and felt he would be capable enough to save the mom-daughter duo. He said, “I ran out there and as soon as I got to the mom, I knew she was struggling.” Kevin was also able to save Haylee and pull her closer to shore, where a lifeguard came to their aid.
Samantha only knew Kevin by his first name and tried for months to search him out to express her thanks. Samantha posted about the rescue in a Facebook group called Merced Neighborhood Watch this week, and within hours she was in touch with Kevin. After she go to know that Kevin and his fiancée cancelled their wedding because of the pandemic, Samantha set up a GoFundMe page to help the beautiful couple have his dream wedding.
The GoFundMe page explains: If it wasn’t for him risking his life in such a selfless act I would have lost not only my own life but my baby girl. I want to raise money for Kevin and his fiancée to have their dream wedding and honeymoon, any amount helps and is much appreciated. Lord knows he deserves so much more than this.
The page was set up with a goal of $50,000, and until now more than 1,000 people have donated more than $31,500. Samantha has thanked everyone for their support and hopes Kevin and his future wife could use that money to put a down payment on a house. She added: Kevin and his fiancée are still so humble saying they don’t deserve this. I feel like if I had the money to give them anything in life I would, because they saved my world, my child. My family will now have a bond with this man and his family forever, we ARE family now.
Samantha and Haylee are all set to attend Kevin’s wedding where they will again meet them and thank their hero for saving their lives.
