She heard ‘ayúdenme!’ coming from the river. She jumped in, despite not knowing how to swim

By the time Damiana Yanez-Montemayor was pulled out of the rushing Kings River in mid-July, the crowd gathering on Reedley Beach wasn’t sure if she’d survive.

She laid unconscious on the sandy shore as a group of people stood around her, clueless about how to get her to wake up. The man she had just helped save from the river watched and cried as it crossed his mind that Yanez-Montemayor could die.

Pedro Garcia-Roque also wondered what would have happened to him if Yanez-Montemayor hadn’t heard him yelling for help from the water as he and his two brothers went under several times. For Yanez-Montemayor, jumping into the cold rushing water that moment wasn’t about a second chance at life or about becoming a hero.

“Just the thought of somebody drowning in front of me, I couldn’t let it go,” Yanez-Montemayor told The Bee on Tuesday as she recounted the incident from July 16.

Reedley police responded to Reedley Beach for reports of a drowning in the recreation area of the Kings River, which snakes west of Reedley. What the responding officers didn’t know was that Yanez-Montemayor had jumped into the water after she heard Garcia-Roque pleading for help.

Garcia-Roque, 28, doesn’t know how to swim and said he had only gotten in the water with his two brothers visiting from Los Angeles to freshen up. His family had organized a barbecue and didn’t plan on swimming. Eventually the trio reached a deep area in the water and all three went under. Garcia-Roque began to struggle.

Yanez-Montemayor said she and her husband, Ruben, drove from Selma to cool off after a day of cleaning around the house. They also took their puppies for a walk. When the first scream for help was shouted, Yanez-Montemayor looked around. Nobody moved, she said.

Then came the second scream for help: “Ayúdenme!”

“I said, ‘Oh, Jesus, I guess it’s going to be me,’” the 61-year-old Yanez-Montemayor said. Only after she woke up in the hospital bed at Reedley’s Adventist Health did she think her husband would be upset with her for jumping in. But her first question to medical staff was if Garcia-Roque was OK. Thanks to her, he was, they told her.

Wearing exercise shorts and a loose shirt, Yanez-Montemayor threw off her sandals and went into the water, which at first only reached her knees. It was cold, she said. Suddenly, as she inched closer to Garcia-Roque, she too was caught by surprise when the ground beneath her disappeared and she was left to swim or sink.

You see, Yanez-Montemayor doesn’t know how to swim, either.

She remembers grabbing Garcia-Roque by his shirt. Yanez-Montemayor was beginning to swallow gulps of river water.

“He was so frantic that he was pulling me under,” she said. Garcia-Roque’s brother was trying to calm him down. Somehow they managed to reach the shore and one of them pushed Garcia-Roque along with Yanez-Montemayor. She was finally taken out by a man she has yet to meet, she said.

During the struggle by both Garcia-Roque and Yanez-Montemayor to stay afloat, Yanez-Montemayor said she had begun a “peaceful” float to the edge of the river. She was slowly losing consciousness and began to call “up to my Lord.” She could hear her husband telling her to float on her back, so she did. But Yanez-Montemayor thought that moment would be the end for her. Thoughts of her grandchildren and of her husband, who she could see out of the corner of her eye, filled her mind.

“I was thinking, ‘Boy, I’m not going to see you anymore,’” Yanez-Montemayor said Tuesday.

Once she was pulled out, a woman began pounding on Yanez-Montemayor’s back in an effort to revive her. Yanez-Montemayor said she’s been told she was purple and had been “gone” for at least three minutes before she regained consciousness.

Paramedics and police arrived within two minutes. Reedley police officers Daniel Ybarra and Anthony Walker were both dispatched to the scene and found Yanez-Montemayor on the ground. Ybarra performed CPR.

“The woman was not breathing,” Garcia-Roque told The Bee in Spanish. “It was a very strong blow for me, an emotional blow. I started to cry.”

Ybarra performed CPR until Yanez-Montemayor was able to breath on her own, according to the police department, which posted about the incident to Facebook. Yanez-Montemayor was speaking with officers once she was revived, then whisked away to the hospital.

Garcia-Roque and his brothers thanked everyone else who helped that day, but he didn’t get a chance to thank Yanez-Montemayor. And after all, she had been the first to step in.

He and his wife Guadalupe set out to find Yanez-Montemayor. They checked in with the hospital the next day, but were told Yanez-Montemayor was released the night before. The couple visited the Reedley Exponent newspaper and the police department, but no luck getting a line on Yanez-Montemayor.

Eventually, Garcia-Roque reached out to local Spanish TV station Noticias Univision (KFTV-21), which put a notice on Facebook that helped lead to a reunion.

On July 26, Garcia-Roque and Yanez-Montemayor met where they nearly lost their lives. Ybarra was also there and all spoke about the July 16 incident. Garcia-Rouque hugged the woman and presented her with a flower bouquet.

Later that day, Garcia-Roque’s and Yanez-Montemayor’s families went out to dinner at seafood restaurant Mariscos Costa Azul in Selma. The two families were surprised to learn they both lived in Selma, Garcia-Roque said. Now they have something deeper to share in life.

Garcia-Roque and Yanez-Montemayor both say they plan on staying connected.

“She almost died trying to help someone she didn’t even know. If she needs help one day, I’m here,” Garcia-Roque said.

This story was originally published July 31, 2018 at 3:54 PM.