Chemo for morning, lifesaver later

Weakened from a summer of chemotherapy, Jo McKenzie-McLean decided to keep her lifejacket on as she and two friends took what was to be a quick dip in a Central Otago lake.

The decision would save all three’s lives, after the wind blew their boat away – and attempts to swim after it left the friends exhausted.

And while they later laughed at the idea of a stage four cancer patient, who had had chemotherapy just hours earlier, rescuing ‘‘two fully-abled healthy men’’, they consider her a hero for calmly towing both to shore.

‘‘You are gasping for that last breath, and you know there is nothing you can do about it, and you have to accept your fate,’’ said one of the friends, fellow Stuff journalist Marc Greenhill. ‘‘I’m an OK swimmer, but not a super strong swimmer.’’

McKenzie-McLean, of Cromwell, was diagnosed with bowel cancer two years ago and had just finished her latest chemotherapy dosage four hours before the ordeal on Lake Dunstan on Thursday. It was the same week two people drowned at Lake Wakatipu near Glenorchy.

Greenhill, who was down from Wellington on holiday, arrived at her home about lunchtime.

‘‘The nurse was pulling out my chemo pump. Marc had to look away because he can’t stand the sight of blood.’’

McKenzie-McLean is fighting an infection, on strong antibiotics and run down from the cancer treatment. Her cancer levels are the highest they have been since she was diagnosed.

Because of the hot temperatures, she suggested a swim. She had not been in open water for two years.

Out on the lake, after some waterskiing by friends, McKenzie-McLean blew caution to the wind and decided she would hop in the water, finally. ‘‘It felt so great, I got carried away in there.’’

McKenzie-McLean was the only one to wear a lifejacket in the water.

Greenhill said he hesitated when he took off his lifejacket to get in – and knows now he was right to. After all three were in the water, the wind picked up and the boat drifted away at pace. Greenhill and the boat owner unsuccessfully swam after it. After a while they were 100 metres from shore and both men started to panic.

‘‘He [the skipper] started yelling for help and I thought he was kidding. But he wasn’t, so I was like ‘oh my God, I’m coming’,’’ McKenzie-McLean said.

Not uncommon for her to fall asleep during active recovery aqua jogging at the pool, McKenzie-McLean went into autopilot. She doggy-paddled towards her mate. ‘‘I just kind of kept quite calm, actually, and said ‘grab onto me and we will kick back together’, and we both ended up on our backs. I didn’t realise the seriousness of it and how much he was panicking and struggling.’’

She got him to shore, job done. But then she saw Greenhill’s head bobbing above water. He was silent when she called his name. ‘‘I yell, ‘Marc do you want me to help’, and he didn’t say anything. He looked stationary bobbing, so something in me worried. I doggy-paddled over.’’

Meanwhile, Greenhill fretted for his life. ‘‘I was really starting to panic at this point ... I had my wits about me enough to float on my back for a bit. She was remarkably calm, I was panicked and thinking this was potentially the end for me. The thought of drowning is terrifying, and my mind went there.’’

McKenzie-McLean reached Greenhill and directed him to stay on his back. They linked arms and kicked their way to shore together.

She said she didn’t feel tired at the time, because adrenaline took over. ‘‘I did surprise myself with the exertion. I didn’t think my body was capable of being pushed.’’

She said the ordeal had given her extra fight on her cancer journey.

Greenhill credits McKenzie-McLean as his hero. He said he had messaged her most days since to thank her.