A 26-year-old woman who was found unconscious and not breathing at Ha‘ena’s Tunnels beach Wednesday died Friday afternoon at Wilcox Memorial Hospital. Jesikah Schierenberg, 26, of Murrieta, Calif., was apparently struggling in the ocean before she was helped to shore
A 26-year-old woman who was found unconscious and not breathing at Ha‘ena’s Tunnels beach Wednesday died Friday afternoon at Wilcox Memorial Hospital.
Jesikah Schierenberg, 26, of Murrieta, Calif., was apparently struggling in the ocean before she was helped to shore by a male stranger.
Don Wilfong, a visitor from Oregon, said his two stepsons — 41-year-old Charles Wetherald and 38-year-old Steven Wetherald, both from Oregon — then used their CPR training to provide mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to the woman.
“My boys did all they could, and they were able to save her for a little while,” Wilfong said yesterday when informed of Schierenberg’s passing.
Wilfong said a pair of lifeguards arrived on the scene some 15 minutes after the woman had been pulled out of the water. Next to arrive was the Kaua‘i Fire Department, and almost an hour went by, Wilfong said, before an ambulance had arrived from Kapa‘a.
Schierenberg, a summer visitor staying on the North Shore, was then taken to Wilcox. The fire department told Daubert that the woman’s condition had improved during the ride.
The county initially said the woman was “holding on” in critical condition in Wilcox’s intensive care unit, and categorized the incident as a “near-drowning.”
An autopsy will be performed Monday to determine the official cause of death.
