A family is thanking a teenage lifeguard for saving their mother’s vacation.
Janet Dunne sent a letter of appreciation to the Montauk Chamber of Commerce, after she says a young lifeguard named Shane McCann went above and beyond to make sure her elderly mother had a wonderful vacation.
Dunne explained she and her family had been visiting Montauk for the past 12 years. Her mom always joins them, and usually makes it to the beach with some help.
But this year was different.
"Other years we had walked her down and each taken a side," Dunne told ABC News. "There were stairs, but this year they took the stairs away. My sister-in-law and I knew we'd never get her down there. She'd sit at the house until noon, and then we'd take her to sit at the pool and we'd check on her every 45 minutes, but we felt bad."
Dunne called the Chamber of Commerce to see if there were any accommodations for her mother. They told her to ask the lifeguard for a beach wheelchair, but there were none available.
So, the lifeguard, Shane, drove a Dune Buggy to pick the woman up and drop her off with her family at the beach.
“The look on my Mom’s face was something I will never forget and this made our vacation,” Dunne wrote in the letter.
Shane was back to pick the woman up at the end of the day.
“He gave her a hug and told her she was an inspiration to him,” wrote Dunne.
To make the story even better, Dunne says she tipped Shane both times he picked up her mother, but he told her he wasn’t going to be keeping the money. Instead he would be “sharing it with everyone.”
When Shane’s mother received the letter, she proudly posted it to Facebook.
“I am so proud of him. He’s a really, really good boy with good integrity,” said Mom Jenna McCann. She explained that his grandmother has Alzheimer’s, which gave him a new appreciation and respect for his elders.
Dunne can’t thank Shane enough. She said it may be her mother’s last time joining them on vacation, which made the gesture all the more touching.
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