True Commitment: Swimming to Work
By: WNBC
Updated: November 20, 2012
An emergency room technician was so determined to make her shift the day after Sandy hit that she swam part of the way there through the floodwaters.
"'Can't' isn't in my vocabulary, so I knew I was going to make it," said Marsha Hedgepeth of Toms River, New Jersey.
Hedgepeth knew she had to make her 3 p.m. shift at Community Medical Center the day after Sandy.
But when she looked outside, her neighborhood was dark and flooded.
The Barnegat Bay had poured 10-foot waves on to her street overnight, and the streetlights were out.
The longtime surfer waited until sunrise and set off with a plan.
"I dove into water, and I couldn't see the steps I was walking down because they were covered in water," she said. "So I said the easiest way to get there is just swim until I reach the ground."
