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How three men's bravery gave a woman one last talk with her mother

Madeline Buckley
madeline.buckley@indystar.com
Deborah Poland on Mother's Day in 2002.

Heather Stith bought the thank-you cards long before she could bring herself to write a note to the three men who pulled her mother out of the White River.

She held on to The Indianapolis Star article that gave her their names. But she wasn’t ready.

She hunted for their addresses, though she kept them for a month before she knew she wanted to write.

“I couldn’t bring myself to write about it yet,” Stith said. “I was putting it off.”

The story that intersects the Carmel woman’s life with those of three White River Yacht Club members is one of tragedy, intertwined with a tale of bravery and kindness.

And Stith wanted to thank them.

Three thank-you notes

On a rainy night on July 8, Kevin McMahon, Les Sebring and Nick Melvin saw a strong current pulling a woman down the White River. She appeared to be flailing in the swift waters on the unseasonably cool summer night. The men, who lived in the riverfront neighborhood near the river near 75th Street and College Avenue, leapt into action, taking Sebring’s boat into the river and pulling the woman aboard.

The woman was conscious and sputtered a few words. Medics rushed her to the hospital.

The men never knew her name or learned what happened to her — until October, that is.

Heather Stith talks about the death of her mother, Deborah Poland, in her Carmel home.

Stith mailed the three men her cards in October, thanking them for pulling her mother from the river.

Sebring tried to learn the woman’s name by pulling strings with friends in law enforcement, but to no avail. Then he received the card that brought sad news, but resolved his questions.

“It made me feel more complete,” Sebring said.

Heather Stith’s mother, Deborah Poland, was 66 when she jumped in the river, intending to kill herself.

Poland died five days later at the hospital after contracting sepsis.

But the rescue allowed Stith and her siblings to have one last conversation with their mother.

“I remember touching her hair,” Stith said. “I’m pretty sure I said, 'I love you.' ”

Stith said she and her siblings were grateful for those last words. And they were relieved their mother didn’t sink into the river, leaving them forever with unanswered questions.

“I thought it was important for them to know the impact of their actions. ... We were able to talk to her one last time,” Stith said. “My mom would have wanted me to thank them. They did something nice for her kids.”

For Stith, the day that preceded that night in the hospital started with bewilderment and turned to panic.

Earlier that day, Poland’s boyfriend told Stith her mother was missing. She took her purse, but her car remained at her Castleton home.

After searching for her mother, Stith filed a missing persons report yet was at a loss about what to do next. Her mother was an adult, free to go where she wanted.

“What do we do?” Stith said she and her family wondered, as they grew more worried.

Finally, that night, Stith received a call from police telling her to come to the hospital.

Doctors were trying to warm her mother up. Poland was injured when she hit the water.

But Stith laughed at one memory of her mother in the hospital. She kept asking for a Coke with ice.

“We can’t give you a Coke,” Stith recalled saying to her mother.

‘I don’t want shame or stigma’

Then came the harder conversations about the suicide. Poland told one of her daughters that she planned it, Stith said.

Poland told her daughter the water felt like concrete when she hit it.

Poland had anxiety and previously attempted suicide in 2003, Stith said. Her mother suffered from chronic physical pain and ongoing health issues.

“I feel guilt about how she was gone for so long,” Stith said. “If only I had spent more time — how far could she have gone? — we could have found her before she jumped.”

Poland seemed to be recovering for a couple days after she was pulled from the river, but eventually, she contracted sepsis and took a turn for the worse, Stith said.

Poland died July 12.

Stith said she hopes her mother's story will help others recognize signs of depression in loved ones.

"I don't want shame or stigma," she said.

Stith recalls the peaceful look on her mother’s face the last time she talked to her. She sifts through fond memories of her mother, who loved birthdays and Mother’s Day. Poland would call her children on their birthdays and tell them about the day  they were born. She always told the story the same way.

“Being a parent was important to her,” Stith said.

For the men who saved Poland from the river, the thank-you notes resolved their nagging questions.

Stith’s sister, Holly Solhan, also wrote to the men.

Though he was sorry to hear Poland had died, Melvin, one of the men involved in the rescue, said it was “heartwarming” to hear from the sisters.

“It gave me some closure on that,” he said.

Call Star reporter Madeline Buckley at (317) 444-6083. Follow her on Twitter: @Mabuckley88.

Yacht Club members save woman�s life on White River