A fundraiser has topped $100,000 for a Georgia woman who nearly drowned in front of the Ponte Vedra Inn & Club after trying to save the young son of a PGA golfer.
“Mom is ending the year on a high note!” Cathy Dowdy’s family wrote in a New Year’s Eve update on her condition. “I came in this morning when the nurse was doing her assessment. She called out mom’s name and she turned her head towards her! Twice!!”
Dowdy, of Brunswick, was vacationing in Ponte Vedra Beach with the family of golfer Brian Harman on October 13 when his son was pulled in by a rip current. Harman was not present at the time.
Dowdy rushed into the water after the tot but was soon overwhelmed by the waters and nearly died before being pulled from the ocean.
Another man at the scene, Crane Cantrell, managed to reach the youngster and safely pull him safely to shore.
Dowdy was rushed to the Mayo Clinic, and is continuing a grueling rehabilitation.
“She has been turning her head and her eyes towards us when we talk to her,” her relatives said on the recent GoFundMe page update. “Not consistently, but frequently! We just want to jump up and down! What an incredible way to end this year. 2025 is mom’s year!!”
Harman shined a spotlight on the incident during a November PGA press conference where he thanked Dowdy for her act of heroism.
“I think that bravery and doing something like that for people who aren’t your blood is just the most beautiful thing you can do in this life,” he said.
The fundraising campaign had amassed more than $103,000 from donors across the country as of Thursday.
