'I guess I'm lucky to be alive'
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PORTLAND, Ore. -- Caity Shough said she knew she would make it to safety. With no food, no water and a dead cell phone, she had to keep going to stay warm and find help.
Shough became stranded after she and her husband took jet skis out on the Columbia River on Saturday afternoon.
"I got stuck on a sandbar," she said. "I called him and said 'come help me.' An hour went by, he still hadn't found me. Probably another half to hour and I started getting worried."
Search crews began to look for her after her husband, Cameron Shough, told boaters anchored near Rooster Rock State Park that he didn't know where she was and he was going to look for her.
Rescuers found Cameron Shough in an anchored boat at 11:30 p.m. Saturday night.
Caity Shough said she knew she had to get off the river, so she swam across the south channel of the Columbia River in the dark from Reed Island to the Oregon shore
"I started trekking through blackberry brush taller than me," she said. "Wheat grass taller than me, cat tails, everything. I've never been through anything like that and won't happen again. At least I'm hoping.
"I was trying to get to I-84. I knew it was there. I knew it was just a matter of getting there and how I needed to get there."
Shough said she was so thirsty that she licked dew off the grass.
She made it to the freeway at about 4 a.m. A Multnomah County sheriff's deputy found her and took her to the hospital.
She has dozens of scratches and bruises, but was not seriously hurt. She lost her voice from hours of yelling and was suffering from onset hypothermia.
"I guess I'm lucky to be alive, but at the same time I guess it never crossed my mind I wouldn't be."
Shough became stranded after she and her husband took jet skis out on the Columbia River on Saturday afternoon.
"I got stuck on a sandbar," she said. "I called him and said 'come help me.' An hour went by, he still hadn't found me. Probably another half to hour and I started getting worried."
Search crews began to look for her after her husband, Cameron Shough, told boaters anchored near Rooster Rock State Park that he didn't know where she was and he was going to look for her.
Rescuers found Cameron Shough in an anchored boat at 11:30 p.m. Saturday night.
Caity Shough said she knew she had to get off the river, so she swam across the south channel of the Columbia River in the dark from Reed Island to the Oregon shore
"I started trekking through blackberry brush taller than me," she said. "Wheat grass taller than me, cat tails, everything. I've never been through anything like that and won't happen again. At least I'm hoping.
"I was trying to get to I-84. I knew it was there. I knew it was just a matter of getting there and how I needed to get there."
Shough said she was so thirsty that she licked dew off the grass.
She made it to the freeway at about 4 a.m. A Multnomah County sheriff's deputy found her and took her to the hospital.
She has dozens of scratches and bruises, but was not seriously hurt. She lost her voice from hours of yelling and was suffering from onset hypothermia.
"I guess I'm lucky to be alive, but at the same time I guess it never crossed my mind I wouldn't be."
She made it. Â That's all that matters at this moment. Â No coulda shoulda woulda matters now.
?? Why didnt she just stay put, or call 911 when it started getting dark?? why swim, let alone travel through thick grass and thorns, risking scrapes that could get serious infections, black widows, other predators???? Â she should have just stayed in one spot!!!! Â No survival skills whatsoever.....
 @Silver Lioness Hard to call 911 when your cell phone is dead, as stated in the story. Its easier to keep warm when youre moving and she had a plan that ultimately led to her recovery. Id say she had good survival skills considering the circumstances.
Is it just me or is this story a little confusing?
If she and her husband were out on jet skis, why did they find him later in an "anchored boat"?
Glad she's alive and she will get better!
You are one tough cookie, strong and self-reliant. I'm glad you made it to safety, but oh boy those legs look so sore.
Unless she was in immediate danger on the sand bar she should have stayed put. It's a lot harder to find someone who is moving around. And as someone else mentioned, a passing boater might have been able to help her.  I don't believe the article mentioned whether she had an emergency whistler, flashlight/strobe, or life jacket but those would be wise things to have. It seems to me swimming across the channel in the dark and then bushwhacking put her in more danger.
 @WAmomof4 for real. obviously she doesn't know the first rule about survival, stay where you're known to be... unless she didn't trust her husband.
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my guess is that they were drunk and if the cops found out he was drunk driving a boat around he'd get a DUI so he stayed in for the night and was probably gonna go help her in the morning. either way selfish move but wow.
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and why didn't the wife call another friend? these people both have downs...
Ok Dylan ... that was your guess. MY guess is that you are making a really stupid assumption...what a mean thing to say.
Gee Dylan...why let the truth of what actually happened, get in the way of a good story to tell huh?
 @My opinion is you just said it was my guess and then you call it an assumption in the very next sentence. Make up your mind already! In any case though it was my GUESS, I was NOT assuming as mentioned in my post.
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but yes I am still curious on why the husband was just sitting in his anchored boat and why nobody else went looking for them. there could be many ideas reasons but only one right answer
glad she's ok and all but what a repulsive picture......
Blackberries have a bad attitude. I've climbed through them a couple of times and felt like I was lucky to get out alive. Her legs look like maybe there was some poison ivy or something too. Ouch
 @Elvis Yeah, they're all a bunch of pricks, aren't they? :^D Glad you weren't too seriously injured in your unpleasant encounters with them.Â
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And yes, that looks like a lot more than scratches on her legs; she definitely ran into something worse than blackberry bushes.Â
She broke the first rule of being in a tough situation, never panic. If she had just remained calm and waited she would have been in better shape. At least the mistake didn't cost her her life.
Thank you for once again letting us all know that you are the perfect being and that we should all bow to your superiority.
 @Blindman Easier said than done.
Not really. I know its harder for women to control the emotions in times like this. But all you have to do is stop, take a couple deep breaths and think about what you're doing. Its what separates us from the animal kingdom. @Furd  @Blindman
Casey... did you get all more emo later... because you said " I was alot"... so, I have to ask what happened to make you weaker now? ( I am just teasing)
It is always easier to second guess someone's response to a situation. It is quite different when you are in a difficult situation. Personally, I would have stayed put... rivers don't have tides, and there hasn't been any recent rain so there is no reason for the river to rise... Should the situation get really bad, call 911.. but don't run the battery down on the phone trying to call someone to help...
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@Blindman OH WOW. You HAD to go there, didn't you? It's not harder for women to control their emotions that is an absolute CROCK. As a woman, I'd have to say I was alot stronger emotionally than many of my male firefighter/paramedic counterparts. Or my daughter's dad, or ...seriously, most of the males we were called to assist. What a chauvenistic thing to say.Â
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At one of the other commenters, she couldn't call someone because her cell phone was dead. She should have stayed put. We here that time and time again. She also should have been better prepared.  Something sounds weird with the story, but hey, oh well. I'd say some common sense was lacking, but seemed to me she made it through without crumbling to pieces.
@MargeGunderson @Illuminati No worries Marge, it was legit funny. I mean, as far as I can tell - I'm pretty emotional right now. My toast turned out a bit overdone, and I'm starting to think about running in a panic.
 @Illuminati  @adinagi I'm a woman and I thought that was pretty funny, Illuminati.Â
 @adinagi You need to control your emotions.
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I kid! I kid!
@Blindman Harder for women? You haven't known many women in your life, have you...what a ludicrous thing to say. Please - mention periods too, okay? You know, just to complete your 'thought'.
I think she got lucky. Â Sounds like she took the worst course of action on how to get out of the situation...it's not too hard to get a sea-doo unstuck from a sandbar. Â Beyond that, she could have just stayed on the thing instead of swimming and crawling through bushes. Â Yikes.
How stuck on the sandbar was she?
 @DarkParty Do you remember Artax from the Never Ending Story?
I blame her loser husband. He failed her by not protecting her. He shouldn't have allowed them to separate or taken his eyes off her long enough for her to disappear. I bet he just open-throttled it for awhile, turned back and she was stuck on a sandbar out of sight. Why he never made it back to her was never mentioned. He did say.... "I'll come find you". Which tell me.... I lost you.Â
 @notez2cme Wow... you blame her husband?  Does it say somewhere she was a novice?  Maybe she was the one who "open throttled it" and was long out of sight before she got herself stuck. Â
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 You are making some assumptions with that blame.  It says the husband was picked up in an anchored boat at 1130pm - well after dark.  To me, that sounds like he searched for her until he couldn't any longer and had to make it to an anchored boat - maybe he was out of fuel at that time?
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In any event, it doesn't sound like she is blaming her husband, neither should you. Â
 @notez2cme The blame, if anything, is shared between them both. Sometimes youre having too much fun on these recreation type machines and lose track of one another. Luckily this was a positive outcome rather than a drowning or something negative.
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If she had a charged phone then there wouldnt have been such a trek for her to go through. Her husband may have been low on fuel as to why he didnt go back to look for her so could be a few other reasons.
Im glad she made it and is ok, but I dont think that was a good idea to leave that jet ski. Chances are she could have freed it or a passing boater may have found it.
@northwestsurfer The wake from a passing cargo ship could have washed it loose. Personally I would have stayed w/ the machine instead of swimming to shore.