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When Lee Kellow took his dog for its regular walk on the Red Beach side of Ōrewa Estuary, on October 26, he did not expect to become a good Samaritan and also have his daily fitness training called upon.
Lee says it was low tide and in the distance he could see a small black hump on the sand right out on the sand bar where the estuary flows into the sea.
“I’d never noticed a rock out there, so I went to take a closer look,” he says.
As he got closer, he could see a lady on the ground in a lot of pain and distress with another lady dog walker with her.
“It turned out that a dog had run into her and really messed up her leg,” Lee says.
Her husband was working in Leigh and the wait for the ambulance was 4-5 hours for non-life threatening injuries.
“She was in agony and unable to move. So, it was either wait for an ambulance or use some functional fitness and old fashioned grit,” he says.
This is where Lee’s work as studio manager of F45 gym in Whangaparāoa came into play.
Although he is fit, he says it had been a while since he’d had to do a fireman’s carry across sandy uneven terrain – “but it was that or wait for the tide to come in and wash us away!”
So he carried her on his shoulder back across the beach, up the steps and hill to the other dog walker’s car.
They then drove her to Red Beach Medical.
Lee says he has told members of the F45 about it in the context of “the importance of being fit because someday you might just need it”.
The Stanmore Bay resident, who does not want to be named, has a fracture which the doctor described “as being something they see from a high speed car accident”.
Her knee is also damaged. She is keeping her leg immobile for 6-8 weeks with a further 4-6 months recovery after and in the future could need a knee replacement.
She says she is very grateful for Lee’s assistance – “It was a feat of strength and I am grateful beyond words,” she says.
She says no one was to blame, as two dogs were chasing each other and came close then one ran into her. “It hit me on the right side of my right leg. It wasn’t a huge dog, it was the angle it hit me at, and there was a massive impact. There was nobody to blame – the dog did nothing wrong,” she says.
