March 20--A Rogers Park neighborhood woman who was out Saturday afternoon trying to rid herself of memories of an ex-boyfriend instead helped save a man's life after his boat capsized in Wolf Lake on the Southeast Side near the Indiana border.
"I was there trying to clear up bad energy from my breakup," said Jacklyn Nowotnik, of Rogers Park, in a phone interview Sunday. "I didn't intend to make a new memory."
Nowotnik had gone to Wolf Lake previously with her now ex-boyfriend, and decided Saturday to revisit places they went together. Her friend, Victor Valencia of the Albany Park neighborhood went along, she said.
The two walked in an isolated area near a strip of land leading out to Wolf Lake. As they were getting ready to leave, both heard a call for help, she said.
Nowotnik saw a person holding onto a boat that was flipped over and appeared to be sinking, she said.
"We called 911 for help," she said. "Rescuers were there in about five minutes."
Nowotnik said the area where the boater was in distress was filled with foliage, so scuba divers were airlifted in a helicopter to rescue the man.
Chicago Police Marine Unit officers received a call of a boat sinking and a man calling for help around 1:50 p.m. at Wolf Lake near 126th Street and South Avenue O in the Hegewisch community area, said Officer Janel Sedevic, a police spokeswoman, citing preliminary police reports.
Firefighters and police officers responded to the area, and firefighters rescued the man from the water.
The man, whose age was not immediately available, was taken in critical condition to Advocate Trinity Hospital, said Chicago Fire Department Cmdr. Walter Schroeder. The man appeared to have hypothermia, Schroeder said.
Both North Siders saw the man being carried away on a stretcher, and Nowotik said he appeared to be awake and smiling.
"It worked out really well," Nowotnik said. "We were there at the right moment. I kept telling my friend 'Do you realize how crazy this is?' It was a spiritual moment. I was supposed to be there."
