The man who jumped into the Thames River near Union Gas to save a suicidal woman in 2016 was honoured recently in Toronto, and awarded a Bravery Award of Canada from the Ontario Lieutenant Governor.
Tom Dunlop, the supervisor at the time for Lyndon Security at Union Gas, was told by two people on the afternoon of June 15, 2016 that a woman was in distress in the middle of the Thames River behind the Union Gas building on Keil Drive.
“Two employees came running in and told me there was a lady trying to commit suicide in the river,” he told The Chatham Voice in June of 2016. “I grabbed my radio and came running out as fast as I could. When I got to the riverbank, there were five or six people on the riverbank trying to talk to her to get her to come back to shore. She wasn’t responsive, she was just saying she didn’t want to live anymore.”
Police had arrived but the woman would not accept the life jacket they were trying to throw her so Dunlop removed his shoes, radio and wallet and waded out to the middle-aged woman who was near the centre of the river, more than 100 feet from shore.
“I entered the water, waded in up to my chin and told her I wasn’t a police officer,” he said in the previous Voice interview. “I told her ‘I don’t know your story, why don’t you come closer to me and tell me your story. I will listen and I promise you’ll get the help you need.’”
That’s when he remembered a technique used a few years ago on a woman who was threatening to jump from a bridge in downtown Chatham.
“I remembered two guys who saved a lady jumping off a bridge by offering her a hug,” he said. “That was the first thing that popped into my mind. I told her if it’s a hug you need, come back to shore and I’ll give you a hug.
“I had a rapport with her and she slowly started making her way back. She was tired from trying to tread water. She finally came close enough where I was able to grab her so she clung on to me. I gave her a hug and as I hugged her I spun her around toward the banks made my way back to the edge of the bank where police and firefighters grabbed her and took her out.”
Dunlop, his wife, Kim, and son Dean, 8, were invited to Toronto for the awards ceremony, where the medal winner received a hug from Ontario Lieutenant Governor Elizabeth Dowdeswell and the Bravery Award of Canada from the Royal Canadian Humane Association.
“I don’t think I deserve a medal for what I did. Like I said at the time, I guess I was meant to be there that day,” Dunlop said.
He wasn’t normally scheduled to work a day shift, but was covering that day for a co-worker.
Dunlop said while he doesn’t keep in touch with the woman he saved, he does check up on her and has been assured that she is getting the help she needs.
“One of the nurses said while she couldn’t give me any information because of patient privacy, she told me I definitely saved that woman’s life that day,” the award winner said.
At the ceremony in Toronto, Union Gas CEO Steve Baker was in attendance to support Dunlop and posted a picture of Dunlop from the award ceremony, congratulating him on his actions.
When asked about how excited his son Dean was about his dad being a hero and getting an award, Dunlop laughed and said, “I think he was more excited about finding out if our hotel had a pool in it or not.”
