Four-Year-Old Swept away by Ocean's Waves. Frantic Mom Dives in, Dies Saving Own Son
Laying down one’s life for another is more than just a supreme sacrifice. It’s also the ultimate act of love.
On June 12, a Palestine, Texas, woman showed that love in action during a family trip to the beach. Thirty-three-year-old Brandy Mosley had gone to the Galveston shore with her family and friends.
What was supposed to be a fun getaway soon turned serious as her 4-year-old son played at the water’s edge. Reports state that the surf was particularly rough that day.
Mosley was standing about 25 feet from the child when a wave slammed him to the sand. Though he was wearing water wings at the time, the relentless battering of the surf made it impossible for him to regain his footing.
As the little boy struggled to stand, Mosely ran and snatched him from the water. She successfully passed him to a nearby relative who got him to safely, but when the relative turned back to call to her, she was gone.
“We’re not sure if it was an undercurrent or riptide that grabbed hold of her or if she was knocked down by another wave,” Maj. Douglas Hudson of the Galveston Sheriff’s Office told People. “We don’t have a witness, all we know is she went under and never resurfaced.”
The Galveston Coast Guard dispatched crews to search the Gulf of Mexico. The Crystal Beach Volunteer Fire Department and Bolivar Police Department also joined in.
The next day, they found a body whose clothing and identifying marks matched those of Mosley. The death has shaken the town of Palestine where she was the owner of B’s Hive of Therapy Day Spa & Salon, and a prayer vigil was held in her honor at a local park.
Mosley’s death serves as a reminder of the dangers of undertows and rip currents. Though the former is usually only dangerous to children near the shore, the latter can snatch full-grown adults out to sea and is best dealt with by swimming parallel to the shore.
But Mosley’s passing is more than that, too. It’s a reminder of the strength and dedication of maternal love.
Two months before the incident, she posted on her Facebook account that “[w]hen your 3-year-old tells you, ‘I’ll always love you. And, I’ll always keep you at my house. And, I’ll always love your eyebrows,’ you must be doing something right.” A sad yet sweet reminder of the bond between parent and child.
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