CHICAGO — A graduate student in Chicago who was a former lifeguard used her skills to save a woman who was struggling to stay afloat in the choppy waters of Lake Michigan.
Fiona Cantorna was running along the Chicago lakefront on May 7 when she heard someone in the water yelling for help, WMAQ reported.
Cantorna, who swam competitively at New York University before graduating in 2024 with a double major in environmental studies and Spanish, did not hesitate. She made a split-second decision and jumped into the chilly water.
“I saw that she was drowning, and I knew that OK, this is what you have to do to save this person, and I think that my rational side took over, and I think, I think it was that switch,” Cantorna told the television station. “I just didn’t think. I think I honestly went on autopilot.
”There was a lot of adrenaline in that moment. It was cold, but I didn’t necessarily feel it, I guess.”
Guy Fuller had been desperately waving for help as the woman thrashed in the water. Police officers were already at the scene but did not have any flotation devices, WMAQ reported.
“When the police can’t help you with something like this, there’s a part of you that says jump in. The heart says jump in. The mind says you can’t do it,” Fuller told the television station. “I still have flashbacks, watching the near-drowning.”
Then Cantorna, who is attending the University of Chicago’s Master of Arts Program in the Humanities, happened to be running in the area.
She used to be a lifeguard supervisor at Camp Wakeshma in Three Rivers, Michigan, so Cantorna was familiar with saving swimmers in distress. After pulling the woman to safety, she warmed up in the back of a police squad car, WMAQ reported.
Her younger brother, Jack Cantorna, noted on his LinkedIn page that he worked for her at the camp.
“She was always trying to give me lifeguarding advice, which I did my best to ignore,” he wrote. “It turns out she knew a thing or two.”
Fuller said that Fiona Cantorna coming onto the scene was “divine intervention, no question about it.”
“It just restores your faith in humanity,” he told WMAQ. “We hear so many bad stories, to hear a story like this really restores your faith in mankind, and I am just so thankful for Fiona and so appreciative of her.”
At graduate school, the native of Palos Park, Illinois, is concentrating on Romance languages and literature, with an emphasis on Spanish, Portuguese and Caribbean studies.
In a social media post, Cantorna wrote that the comments of support from friends, relatives and even strangers made her “feel so loved.”
“So much so that it’s slightly overwhelming,” she wrote. But how lucky am I to be overwhelmed by the love others have for me? So thank you, everyone, for your genuine messages of appreciation, and for expressing your heartfelt thoughts and feelings.
“In a time when messages of hate and negativity feel dominant, these special moments, few as they are, show that there is a lot of love and positivity to go around— and that is a truly wonderful thing."
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