Kimberly Murray just wanted to say thank you.
"I really wanted to see and meet everyone involved with saving my life. If not for them saving my life, I wouldn't be here," she said.
Murray and her family formally met for the first time the Oswego Fire Protection firefighters who rescued them from a flood-swollen drainpipe roughly two months ago.
"We're so happy just to be alive. These guys saved our lives," Matt Murray said.
The emergency happened April 18 as Murray, her husband and their oldest son used a paddle boat to clean out the drainage pipe of their backyard pond.
"We were cleaning out the drain and got struck; next thing it's flipping. We flipped off," said son Matthew Murray.
Veteran swift water rescue squad members Battalion Chief Dan Schiradelly and firefighter paramedic Dave Jordan were among the emergency responders dispatched after calls to 911 were made by the younger Murray had been thrown free.
"The boat was on top of both of them... water up to lip level," said Schiradelly.
Eighteen tense minutes later the Murrays were freed from the drainpipe's suction. The accident left Kimberly Murray seriously injured. She was released after a five-week hospital stay and several surgeries to repair broken ribs.
"Firemen do this every day," said Jordan. "It's a happy ending."
