A grandmother who heroically dove into a lake trying to save her granddaughter, who drowned, has died after seven days in intensive care.
Stephanie Walker, 49, jumped into West Point Lake in Georgia after Makayla Prather, 13, went in to swim and panicked.
‘We believe one of the victims entered the water from the shoreline, became distressed,’ Troup County Sheriff’s Deputy Stewart Smith told last week.
‘And the second victim entered the water in an attempt to help them and became distressed themselves.’
Walker was found not breathing and unresponsive on June 11. She was transported to Well Star West Georgia Medical Center, where she spent a week and died on Saturday.
Rescue teams found Makayla on the evening of the incident.
Authorities have little information because ‘there was no eye witness to the incident’, according to Smith.
The Troup County Sheriff’s Office received a call shortly before 2pm about two people possibly drowning at the lake near the 400 block of Lower Glass Bridge Road.
‘Our caller who had been with the two prior to the event taking place, had just returned to the location when he found the adult victim in the water,’ Smith said.
Makayla’s mother Shawanda Prather said it did not surprise her that her daughter and mother, Walker, decided to visit the lake because they both enjoyed adventures. But the tragedy shocked her.
‘My mom can’t swim,’ Shawanda Prather told . ‘So, the fact that if she jumped in the water, trying to save my daughter, I know she was brave.’
Walker’s son, Rodrikeus Prather, called her ‘a true hero’ in a page for their funeral expenses.
‘My mom Stephanie Walker, a hero, jumped in the lake trying to save my niece,’ Prather wrote. ‘Unfortunately my mom has passed away this morning while fighting on life support and she is at peace, we ask that you keep us in prayer as we go through this tragic moment.’
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