For 40 years, he felt guilty that he couldn’t remember who saved him when he drowned as a kid — a Facebook post filled in the missing memories in less
Some questions stay quietly in the back of a person’s mind for years, waiting for answers that may never be found. For one man, a childhood memory of being saved by a stranger when he was drowning never fully made sense, even as he grew older and built a life of his own. For more than 40 years, he lived with a gap in his story and a feeling that something important was missing. As reported by KXLY on Saturday, January 3, 2026, the long search finally ended after a single post shared close to New Year’s Eve changed everything and brought clarity he never thought he would find.
Michael Kelly was just five years old when a summer day in 1986 nearly turned tragic at Lake Coeur d'Alene. He could not swim and wandered into deep water. “I remember I went under, and I couldn't feel anything under me,” Kelly recalled. He surfaced briefly, screaming for help, and remembered the green color of the water and the light above him. “I remember clearly, like even that, the color of the water, that like green hue, it's like the light coming through. And I remember thinking, 'Oh man, this is it,'” he shared with the outlet. Then his memory stopped. At one point, he was struggling in the water, and suddenly, he was standing on the steps, confused and unaware of how he had made it there. For years, Kelly wondered what happened during that missing moment. He later learned his brain had shut down during the trauma. “Basically, not hit the record button,” he explained, because his body was focused only on survival.
That lost memory stayed with him into adulthood and slowly turned into something heavier. Hearing about other drowning cases made him feel uneasy. “I always feel guilty. Why am I so special?” Kelly said, questioning why he survived when others did not. Finally, Kelly decided to share his story on Facebook, hoping someone might remember that day. The response was quick and unexpected. Within 24 hours, a man reached out, explaining he had been a teenager at the lake and had pulled a young boy from the water. He even described the exact spot, details Kelly had never shared. On New Year’s Eve 2024, Kelly met the man who saved his life. “It was really good to connect and create some closure and just understand what happened,” he said, grateful to finally say thank you after 40 long years.
The weight of not knowing who came to your rescue is undeniably heavy. In a similar story, another man was determined to find the person who saved his life. John Grace, a retired Colorado police officer, had gone to the beach to relax when a surfing accident put him in a life-threatening situation. After being struck by a powerful wave, he fell and lost consciousness, becoming trapped underwater. He was later pulled from the beach by a stranger, but he couldn't see the hero's face clearly. “I just told him thanks for saving my life,” John recalled. Suffering severe injuries, he spent days in the hospital and vowed to find and thank the person who gave him a second chance at life.