Bolivar woman helps save man's life who fell head first off a ledge at Ozarks dam

The man was standing on the ledge by the dam when he fell head first.

Gioshes says if her boyfriend wouldn't have seen him fall, who knows how long it would have been before help arrived.

"I'll never forget it, I'll never forget that," Gioshes exclaims. "I could see all the blood in the water."

Gioshes says when she got down to Darrell Walters he wasn't breathing so she started CPR.

"I was so nervous then he was breathing, and I was glad," Gioshes says.

But he stopped breathing again.

So she continued CPR and comforted him until help arrived.

"I just kept talking to him, telling him he's not alone. I kept telling him it's a long way to Caplinger, they'll be here, I promise," Gioshes says.

A promise that Walters' son Darrell is relieved she kept.

"If she weren't there and no one else was, we'd be talking about a whole different subject right now," Darrell Walters, Jr. says.

Walters says his dad suffered major head injuries.

"Just above the eyebrow from his skull down to his neck. He was pretty much scalped," says Walters.

But they could have been much worse if Gioshes would have picked a different spot to fish.

"For my dad's good fortune she was there," Walters says.

"It touched me. To have someone almost die like that and to witness it. I just did what I thought I should do. You do what you do for somebody," says Gioshes.

Gioshes learned CPR 30 years ago and this was the first time she ever had to use her skills.

Both families would like to meet once Walters is released from the hospital.

Walters also cracked three vertebrae in his neck, has a few broken ribs and cracked his sternum.

Due to his injures, the family is unsure if he will walk again, but are staying hopeful.