A woman from Richer is being hailed a hero, and rightly so.

While Anna Kochie and her friend, Wryan were camping last Saturday at Wild Oaks near Richer, their turtle watching was interrupted by calls for help, and it was coming from the water.

Kochie saw a large group of people nearby, but nobody seemed to be moving toward the man in distress. That's when she realized it might be up to the two of them to save a life. Wryan got an inner tube into the water for Kochie to take with her, and she swam out as fast as she could.

In an August 3rd Facebook post, Patricia Paré said, "He was metal detecting in the beach at Wild Oaks Campground, wearing his wetsuit and with his scoop, metal detector and headphones. He was thinking detecting in there should have been ok. He was able to walk around with the water coming up to just his chest. But then, the ground dropped off HUGE. He tried to feel the ground with his scoop to try and push himself back up but there was no ground to touch. His wetsuit floats *yay* BUT for some reason it made him push his face in the water. Every time he tried to get his face above water his wetsuit pushed his face down into the water. No matter if he was on his back or on his stomach. So struggling with his wetsuit on his legs, his detector, and scoop in his hands he just dropped his stuff hoping he could find a way to swim but no matter what he tried, he just couldn't get his body to do what he wanted."

The man was able to hold onto the tube while Kochie got him to shore.

They tried to warm him up while helping him recover from the shock of nearly drowning.

"When we were in the process of helping him, all he could think of were his kids and that he had kids," Kochie recalls.

The man, named Rob, was reunited with his family and taken to the hospital to be treated.

The rescuers were later tracked down by Rob and his family for an emotional reunion. Kochie says that was when she realized they saved more than one life that day, they saved an entire family.

"We allowed children to continue having a father and this woman to keep having her husband," she says. "Because had we not been there, had we not done that...who knows what could have happened, right?"

Kochie credits her First-Aid Training for giving her the confidence and skills to respond to the call for help. She encourages everyone to get certified in First Aid because you never know when you'll be called on to help save a life.