CINCINNATI (WKRC) – A financial advisor from Cincinnati who rescued two teen girls caught in a rip current off South Carolina’s coast is being honored with a national award.
Those honored with the Carnegie Hero Fund will receive the Carnegie Medal for Heroism, which is North America’s highest honor for civilian heroism. For the fund’s first award announcement for 2024, 17 individuals were recognized for their acts of extraordinary heroism.
41-year-old Michael Louis Lesan of Cincinnati is one of those 17 people being honored. The incident involving Lesan happened on June 22, 2023, in the Atlantic Ocean just off the coast of Edisto Beach in South Carolina.
Two teenage girls were swimming when they were caught in a rip current. There were wind gusts that measures up to 28 mph., creating six-foot waves and extremely choppy water. Lesan then noticed the two girls being taken farther from shore which prompted him to take action.
He quickly entered the water and swam roughly 120 feet to the older girl who was having trouble staying above the water. He was able to reach her and began leading her to shore, but they both were submerged under water at least two times in the process. As they made it closer to the shore, the girl was able to walk out of the water on her own. Lesan walked some distance before crawling the final distance out of the water.
Both would go on to recover.
The Carnegie Medal is meant to honor those who enter extreme danger while saving or attempting to save the lives of others, something Lesan clearly did. With the first announcement of 2024, the Carnegie Medal has now been awarded to 10,422 individuals since its inception in 1904.
Each of the recipients or their survivors will receive a financial grant. So far, $45 million has been awarded in one-time grants, scholarship aid, death benefits, and continuing assistance.
“I do not expect to stimulate or create heroism by this fund,” said Carnegie when creating the fund. “[I] know well that heroic action is impulsive. But I do believe that, if the hero is injured in his bold attempt to serve or save his fellows, he and those dependent upon him should not suffer pecuniarily.”