– OCP file photo of Silver Lake
By Allison Scarbrough, News Editor
GOLDEN TOWNSHIP — A 24-year-old Shelby man rescued a 9-year-old Dewitt, Michigan boy whose kayak overturned on Silver Lake Monday, June 9, shortly before 1 p.m., said Oceana County Sheriff Craig Mast.
The boy launched the kayak from Silver Lake State Park campground where he and his family were camping. He was wearing a life jacket and was stranded in the water due to the vessel flipping over. An employee at Wave Club Water Sports on Silver Lake spotted the struggling boy with binoculars “several hundred yards northwest of the docks,” said Sheriff Mast. Michael Taylor came to his rescue, said the sheriff. “He noticed a child hanging onto the kayak. Michael got on a jet ski and went out and got the child on his jet ski and pulled the kayak to the shore.”
Once on shore, Wave Club employees wrapped the boy in a towel and placed him in a truck with the heat on to warm him up.
Life EMS treated the boy at the scene.
“The child was shivering uncontrollably,” said Mast. “The guys at Wave Club probably saved this kid’s life. He was wearing a life jacket — had he not been wearing a life jacket, the kid certainly would have succumbed to hyperthermia and/or drowning. He couldn’t pull himself back onto his kayak after he overturned.
“A big thanks to the Wave Club staff and Micheal Taylor — it’s very likely he saved the kid’s life.”
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