An Orange County mother has been discharged from the hospital after a rogue wave swept her into the ocean and stopped her heart during a beach walk with friends.
Teresa Tran had gathered with friends for a stroll along Aliso Beach in Laguna Beach when the group was blindsided by rough surf. One wave knocked the women down, and they scrambled to their feet only to be slammed by another. Tran’s daughter, Amanda Trinh, described the terrifying sequence in an interview with CBS LA.
“They were trying to get up, and by the time they got up, a third one came out of nowhere, and they were knocked to their knees again,” Trinh said.
Witnesses spotted the women struggling against the waves and summoned lifeguards, who rushed into the water. Two of Tran’s friends managed to make it back to shore safely. But by the time rescuers reached Tran, she had suffered a heart attack amid the near-drowning, according to Trinh.
Lifeguards performed emergency aid on the beach as a helicopter was called to airlift Tran to a nearby hospital. “She was still unconscious when they pulled her out so they were trying to find her pulse,” Trinh said LA. “It was very faint and they flipped her over and that was when she vomited all of the water out and was able to regain consciousness after that.”
Trinh later shared her mother’s haunting final memories from the water. “Her last memory in the water is that she just recalls not being able to fight anymore,” Trinh said her mom recalled. “She was just thinking I need to keep trying. I need to keep trying, but then eventually she kept swallowing so much water, and she just gave up.”
Faced with mounting medical expenses, Trinh started a GoFundMe campaign to help cover her mother’s bills. “We are so grateful my mom is alive and receiving care,” Trinh wrote on the fundraising page. “If there is anything you can do to help contribute, please consider donating here. Your support will help our family cover the costs of her airlift, overnight hospital stays, and other expenses that insurance won’t cover while we focus on getting my mom healthy and home.”
On Aug. 20, Trinh shared an update that her mother had been discharged and was “resting at home.” The relief came after what Trinh described on GoFundMe as “a frightening and unexpected experience for our family.”
The incident occurred near the same stretch of coast where a 5-year-old child had previously drowned after being swept away by strong surf. Trinh said LA that the trauma has left her mother deeply shaken. “She’s horrified,” Trinh said. “I don’t think she’s going to be going near any body of water for a while now.”
In the viral moment that drew national attention, a routine beach outing transformed into a life-or-death struggle when successive waves overpowered Tran and her companions. The third wave, which Trinh said came “out of nowhere,” proved the most devastating—knocking the women to their knees and pulling Tran into the churning water where she would swallow enough seawater to lose consciousness and go into cardiac arrest before lifeguards could reach her.