Friday, June 30, 2023
In late January 1990, my husband and I sailed our boat over to Marsh Harbor and left her there for about 6 months. During that time, we flew over with my in-laws to go sailing for a few days. The night before we left Marsh Harbor, my father-in-law had a very bad night but refused to see the doctor and said he, "would be fine." So, we went out sailing and then anchored in Hope Town. The next day, my father-in-law was tired but managed to go out in the sailing dinghy and didn't seem too bad. During the night however, things took a turn for the worse. My mother-in-law woke us up sometime after midnight, saying that my father-in-law was struggling to breathe. When we saw him, he tried to speak but was needed to breathe every 2-3 words. We were frightened but wanted to remain calm and tried calling for a Pan-Pan on the radio but there was only silence. My husband and I decided to get into our dinghy and go ashore for help. After walking the island for a bit and finding everything dark and closed up, we walked up the hill and found an international phone booth with a regular phone in it (not a payphone which was a good thing because we had no coins on us). I picked it up and dialed the operator. She said there was a doctor who lived on her sailboat and went back and forth between Man-o-War Cay and Hope Town, but she didn't know where she was but would try to patch us through. After a few moments, we were informed that the doctor was in Hope Town and that we should return to our boat and turn all our spreader lights on. We did just that and within minutes, Dr. Jane Garfield and her husband, Newell, were at our boat. She came down below and quickly took command of the situation, assessing my father-in-law saying he had had a heart attack and was experiencing congestive heart failure. She administered Lasix and then got on the radio. She was amazing – within a short time she had arranged for: a boat to come to our boat and pick up my in-laws at dawn and take them to Marsh Harbor, a taxi to meet them at the dock and take them to the airport in Marsh Harbor, a plane to fly my in-laws to Fort Lauderdale, and an ambulance to meet them there and take them to the hospital in Fort Lauderdale. We were in awe. By the time she finished making the arrangements, my father-in-law’s breathing was improved and he said he was feeling better and wanted to get up. Dr. Jane forcefully told him that he was not to move – and he didn’t! She and her husband “slept” in our cockpit until the boat arrived in the morning. When we asked her what we owed her, she said $50 – we were humbled; she could have asked us for the moon. Miraculously, my father-in-law was in a hospital bed in Fort Lauderdale by 8 am. We are quite sure Dr. Jane saved his life that night.
Unfortunately, we never entered this story in our Ship’s Log. It stops after we tried to raise someone on the radio with a Pan-Pan. We had recounted this story many time to people but had forgotten the doctor’s name, however a few days ago (late June 2023) we met an older couple, both in their 90s who were sailors and had lived in Hope Town for quite a while. When I told her the story, she told me it had to have been Dr. Jane Garfield and that they had last seen her in 2019 but thought she had passed away since them. She told me Dr. Jane was an amazing and “fierce” woman, and that she was “famous”. I was so glad to have finally found out who she was and googled her name, finding her obituary. We will be forever grateful for what Dr. Jane and Newell did that night and were so happy to finally know her name.
We wanted to share this story with all of you, her family and loved ones. Fritz and Krista Depenthal
