In 1968 while driving near the water on a winter day, Brian Lavery thought he saw a dog splashing in the waves, then realized it was way too cold for that. So he looked back and saw little arms and legs going.
Without thinking, Brian raced into the frigid water until it reached his chest, and found a small child floating facing down. When Brian turned the small body over, he saw a little boy’s face.
At the time Brian was barely 18. The boy he saved, Michael Pickup, had just turned two.
Once grown up, Michael had come across an old newspaper article about the incident, with the headline “Child Is Saved From Drowning,” and realized this was far more than just a story about him being an adventurous toddler.
So Michael started searching for Brian online from B.C., before finding him in Nova Scotia, then flying across the country so they could meet each other the first time in 56 years.