Mom Forced to Choose Sons During Tsunami

[Rose Siding]

PERTH, Australia -- Struggling in the raging flood waters, Jillian Searle had to make a choice: which son to hold on and which to let go.

Searle, of Perth, Australia, was near the pool with sons Lachie, 5, and Blake, 2, when this week's tsunami hit the Thai island resort of Phuket where she and her family were vacationing.

"I knew I had to let go of one of them and I just thought I'd better let go of the one that's the oldest," she told Sky News television. "A lady grabbed hold of him for a moment but she had to let him go because she was going under. And I was screaming, trying to find him, and we thought he was dead."

Lachie was found safe two hours later after surviving the raging waters by clinging to a hotel room door.

"I cried for mom for a long time and then I was quiet," he later told his father, Bradley Searle. With mud and water marks up to his ears, his first words to his father were: "My hands are all dirty and I need to wash my clothes."

Jillian Searle said the family feels extremely fortunate....

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-tsunami-mothers-choice,0,1315880.story?coll=sns-ap-nationworld-headlines

I can't even imagine...the choice, knowing a choice had been made, and then living with it, all over-ridden for now, of course, with joy about survival. I pray this one family overcomes their new dynamic.

And that's just ONE story with a *happy* ending! The scale of this event is incomprehensible.

[underpants]

1. Millions of split second decisions had to be made

No time to ponder or weigh your options

[Hello_Kitty]

2. I'm so glad the little boy survived

That poor woman, having to make such a choice. That is heartbreaking.

[cornermouse]

3. I hope she gets couseling for the one that she had to let go of.

He probably doesn't understand why.

[soothsayer]

4. obviously she made the right call! she knew he could take care

of himself

or some spin like that

[Karenina]

5. He SURVIVED.

:bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce:
The younger one had NO CHANCE on his own. -0-.

[bloom]

6. yes

If the mother tried to hold both they may have all died.

[Karenina]

7. The three of them are ALIVE!

Lachie deserves a medal! What a fabulous kid!

[cornermouse]

12. Yes, but a 5 year old wouldn't understand that.

That's why he's going to need some counseling.

[Hippo_Tron]

8. I don't understand why she couldn't hold both of them

Not that I'm criticizing her decission in any way, hell it probably was the smart thing to do and I'm very glad that all three of them are alive. But out of curiosity why couldn't she hold both of them?

[livinginphotographs]

9. It's probably hard to balance in raging floodwaters

When both arms are holding two small children. If she'd have fallen and been swept away, all three of them might have drowned.

Choices like this I can't even imagine having to make. I'm just glad I haven't had to.

[alphafemale]

10. She probably had to hold onto something to keep from drifting away nt

[annabanana]

11. Have you held two kids at the same time?

You can't do it and grab a support to stay on your feet in rushing water at the same time. She would have gone down bringing both boys with her. She released the one most able to survive on his own. The right choice.

I saw the footage of her interview. I don't think that the "oldest" boy should have been forced to revisit his terror. When his mom mentioned him clinging to the door, I could see his little eyes refill with the horror he had just lived through.

[Hippo_Tron]

13. I got ya...

I've just never been in such a situation (thank god) so I'm having a hard time picturing what it would be like.