It was a bit of a miracle, really.

A little more than a year ago, on July 1, 2023, the Bella Coola Valley Search and Rescue got a call out. Dale McCreery was at home with his three-year-old daughter.

"I thought, I'll sit this one out, but then I didn't feel right about that," McCreery said. He got his daughter ready – "what seemed liked forever" – to meet her mom at the local rodeo before he headed over to the search and rescue base. 

When McCreery got there, he overheard a conversation with someone mentioning a message on a cellphone. 

"Being a very forgetful person myself, I often use other devices to find my cellphone. I thought, 'Well maybe there'll be some options in the home that we can find a way of tracking tis cellphone."

It wasn't easy. 

McCreery said there were a number of devices with the wrong account connected, but eventually someone found the right device, but with multiple possible passwords. He said the team actually ended up putting together multiple passwords until they found one they worked and they were able to locate the person.

"Through some good fortune," there was an open gate heading toward where the person's phone was located and they were able to drive right through until search and rescue found some of the person's belongings. 

"Although we were supposed to go downstream, I had a very strong intuition that I needed to go upstream into kind of a very scenic area," McCreery explained.

"Not too far away, I found this person lying in the creek, unconscious. It was only at that point that I realized it was a person that I knew. I had kind of put that aside until I saw this person."

McCreery saw movement from the person and the search and rescue crew was able to get the person to a vehicle and medical help. He added they were told that they "were within three or four or five minutes of when it would have potentially been too late."

"I've only listed half of the amazing coincidences, miracles that made what happened possible. You know, the right thing happening with the right person there at the right time, with the right knowledge."

A little more than a year after the rescue, McCreery was able to share that the person is doing well while he accepted an award of behalf of the Bella Coola Valley Search and Rescue for the team's work in the rescue. McCreery said he spoke with the person the day before he left and while they said he could "share whatever" he wanted, he is still choosing to keep their identity private. 

While he shied away from some of the details, McCreery said it was nice for the team to be recognized in a positive way. 

"I do think it's important to raise awareness of all the search and rescue done in the province because I've seen there are issues in broader search-and-rescue related funding," he said. "There are ongoing needs of improving search and rescue in the province that do need to have some attention brought to them."

On Friday (Sept. 13), the Bella Coola Valley Search and Rescue received the 2023 John MacGregor Memorial Award for their exceptional effort and dedication in locating the person the year prior. In addition to a plaque, the team received a $10,000 cheque. 

John MacGregor, is Canada's "most decorated soldier for valour" after fighting for more than three years on the Western Front in the First World War. The award was established in 2021 by John MacGregor Horne who father served as second-in-command to MacGregor when he commanded the 2nd Battalion, Canadian Scottish Regiment in Victoria for training soldiers for overseas duty in the Second World War. 

MacGregor's grandson, Don, and great-grandson, Rob, were on hand with the B.C. Search and Rescue Association to present the award to McCreery, who has been a search and rescue volunteer for 10 years. 

"When you hear some of the stories of my grandfather, it's totally fitting that it's targeted towards helping people, because that was his legacy in the war. He was helping people and helping our country," Don said. 

Both Don and Rob only heard the full story of the rescue hours before presenting McCreery with the award in Richmond.

Rob, a firefighter with Vancouver Fire Rescue Services, said the part that really stuck out to him was when McCreery mentioned the moment he realized he knew who they were rescuing.

"A lot of people on the SAR team knew the person – that really kind of stuck out because I know firsthand. When you do run across people that you do know, you have connections to ... there's an emotional element attached to that."