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Maple Ridge woman thankful after Gold Creek rescue

Members of a Persian hiking group help save woman and dog
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Terry Temlett was in the grocery store with her husband when she got the call that their lovable family dog, six-year-old black lab Raven, had fallen into Gold Creek. She immediately started to feel weak – and that was before she found out her daughter, Asia, had jumped in to save him.

“My husband was relaying the message to me and the blood immediately drained from my face,” she said. “He had to help me to the side of the grocery aisle and I had to hang on to something. I thought I was going to pass out, it was horrible.”

It was a coincidence that there were other hikers on the trail in Golden Ears Provincial Park on Sunday, May 7, or else both of them may have been swept away with the frigid, rushing water.

Asia had taken Raven and her other dog, Holly, for an afternoon walk. Raven saw “a nice, big stick” in the water and chased after it.

“At first, it was more of a concern of him going downstream than drowning,” Asia said. “He did manage to get across to the other side of the river, but jumped back in when he saw me on the other side.”

Raven is no ordinary dog; he’s a PADS therapy dog, and an indispensable part of Terry’s job as a school counsellor at Centennial secondary in Coquitlam.

“He’s part of our critical incident team in Coquitlam,” Terry said. “Sometimes it’s hard to get staff or students to open up, but it’s amazing when you take a dog into a room with a bunch of boys.

“He’ll touch each of them and they’ll just become little kids. They’ll start emoting, you won’t have to say anything. He’s amazing.”

After Raven jumped back in the water, he was swept up by the fast-moving current, yelping in a way Asia had never heard before.

Adrenaline kicked in, and Asia did the only thing she could think of: she handed Holly’s leash to a nearby hiker and bravely jumped in, risking her own life, to save the one of her best friend.

“I could tell by the look on his face he was just terrified,” she said. “I thought if I don’t go in, he’s going to drown. It was a split-second decision.”

Asia estimates they went about 100 yards down the creek, and several times she tried to swim sideways towards big rocks. But they were either too slippery or the water too fast for them to get to safety.

“I learned pretty quickly that fighting the current was just going to make me more tired,” she said.

On the shoreline, several hikers ran down alongside the pair as they were taken down the roaring waters, yelling that help was coming. Asia said they struggled for a few minutes more, but Raven was first able to scramble to safety.

Asia was close behind, exhausted, frightened and freezing.

A couple members of the group Vancouver Persian Hikers waded into the water and across to where they were laying. When they escaped to safety, she said many people were waiting with warm clothes, blankets, food and drink for both Asia and Raven.

First responders raced to the scene and were there within 15 minutes, which amazed Asia, considering there isn’t typically good cellular reception in the area.

“I was honestly so grateful these people had reacted that way, and they had thought to put themselves in danger even though they knew the 911 call had already gone out,” Asia said.

She was also a little embarrassed because she knew she wasn’t a strong swimmer and jumped into a “well-known dangerous creek,” but put Raven’s life over any fears of putting her own self in jeopardy.

Asia escaped with some bruises and cuts and was quite sore, but Raven “bounced back quickly,” and was back at work in Terry’s school office that week.

Both Asia and Terry have reached out to the hikers group to thank them, and Asia is now an honourary member, of sorts.

Terry was blown away at the response from the group, noting that several of them are Persian immigrants who have come to Canada only in the last few years.

“If these people hadn’t been there, or hadn’t been in the country, then I wouldn’t have my daughter anymore,” Terry said. “They are wonderful human beings, they’re now a part of our family, they’ve embraced our daughter … it’s absolutely incredible.”

They also want others to take extra precautions when hiking anywhere, but particularly in Golden Ears, where water conditions are often unpredictable at this time of year.