Betty
09-10-2008, 11:52 AM
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/09/10/rescue.at.sea/index.html?eref=rss_topstories
(CNN) -- Walter Marino shouted to his 12-year-old son, Christopher, as he drifted farther away in the Atlantic Ocean.
A Coast Guard crew found Christopher three miles away from where his father was rescued.
"To infinity," the father yelled.
"And beyond," Christopher replied.
After a rip current swept the boy and his father out to sea Saturday, darkness fell, and the sound of rescue helicopters and boats grew faint until they were nonexistent.
Despite the danger, Christopher, who has autism, was enjoying himself, his father said. The boy lacks a fear of death because of his autism and finds comfort in the water, Marino told CNN.
...
After four hours, the currents picked up, and Christopher began to drift from his father's reach. Because of the darkness, they couldn't see each other. So Marino shouted out part of a phrase to his son. Watch the Marino family talk about the ordeal with CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta »
"To infinity," Marino shouted, referencing one of Christopher's favorite lines from the movie "Toy Story."
"And beyond," Christopher shouted back, pumping his fist in the air like movie character Buzz Lightyear.
The call and response went on for a while, with Marino choosing different phrases and Christopher yelling back. But over the course of an hour, Christopher's voice faded until his father couldn't hear him anymore.
"That's when I resigned myself to the fact that he was gone," Marino told CNN, saying he believed his son had been pulled under the water. At the time, Marino said, he thought about giving up, until he thought of his daughter Angela. She had just registered for ballroom dance classes, and he told himself over and over he would live to see her dance.
(CNN) -- Walter Marino shouted to his 12-year-old son, Christopher, as he drifted farther away in the Atlantic Ocean.
A Coast Guard crew found Christopher three miles away from where his father was rescued.
"To infinity," the father yelled.
"And beyond," Christopher replied.
After a rip current swept the boy and his father out to sea Saturday, darkness fell, and the sound of rescue helicopters and boats grew faint until they were nonexistent.
Despite the danger, Christopher, who has autism, was enjoying himself, his father said. The boy lacks a fear of death because of his autism and finds comfort in the water, Marino told CNN.
...
After four hours, the currents picked up, and Christopher began to drift from his father's reach. Because of the darkness, they couldn't see each other. So Marino shouted out part of a phrase to his son. Watch the Marino family talk about the ordeal with CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta »
"To infinity," Marino shouted, referencing one of Christopher's favorite lines from the movie "Toy Story."
"And beyond," Christopher shouted back, pumping his fist in the air like movie character Buzz Lightyear.
The call and response went on for a while, with Marino choosing different phrases and Christopher yelling back. But over the course of an hour, Christopher's voice faded until his father couldn't hear him anymore.
"That's when I resigned myself to the fact that he was gone," Marino told CNN, saying he believed his son had been pulled under the water. At the time, Marino said, he thought about giving up, until he thought of his daughter Angela. She had just registered for ballroom dance classes, and he told himself over and over he would live to see her dance.