“I really started to choke,” Lana Batochir, 34, said on a GoFundMe page raising money for her recovery. “I felt myself being dragged down like an object. I knew I was going to die.
“In the distance, I saw my husband’s eyes searching for me in panic,” she added. “I would never forget his face of pain. We locked eyes, but I couldn’t stand. … My husband actually saved my life when he pulled me out of the water.”
Police say Batochir and several other people were on a raft late Saturday afternoon in the “Playpen,” a protected stretch of Lake Michigan near the Navy Pier that often attracts hundreds of boaters on weekends.
A motorboat entered the raft back and Batoochir and others were pulled under, according to Marine unit officer Art Patchnik. Responding officers found Batohir and another woman hanging from the boat.
Batocir was conscious but had sustained serious injuries from the boat’s propeller. “Both legs were cut off,” Patznik said. The other woman suffered a serious arm injury and a tourniquet was applied.
“It was very hectic, people were in shock, we just knew we had to get help straight away,” the officer said.
File photo of Playpen in Chicago
Batochir said she and her husband had gone out on a friend’s boat, and he had joined several people on a raft attached to it.
“Everything happened so fast,” she said on the GoFundMe page. “We were all under his boat in seconds. The propeller of the boat hit me, leaving me in unimaginable pain.”
Batochir says she was told by doctors at Northwestern Memorial Hospital that her legs would have to be amputated below the knees. “It still seems like a nightmare. Anyone who knows me knows that I love to dance, love music and enjoy life with family. My life changed completely because of an unfortunate tragedy.”
But she added: “I still feel very lucky to be alive. I thought I was going to die. I am grateful that I will be able to hug and kiss my children, my husband, my family and my friends. I’ll get over it and come out stronger with my new lifestyle.”
Batochir said she doesn’t have insurance to cover her medical bills, so she started the GoFundMe page herself. “My doctors tell me I’ll be here for a while.”
The US Coast Guard said it is seeking witnesses to the accident as the investigation continues with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. So far, no charges have been brought against the operator of the boat, a rental called La Aqua Vida.
Tucked away in an enclave between Oak Street and Ohio Street beaches, the Playpen was a popular party spot for boaters on summer weekends in Chicago. Concerns have been regularly raised about the safety of so many vessels crammed so close together.
In 2019, a man drowned after slipping into the water unnoticed while jumping between boats. The body of the 30-year-old was found five days later. In 2017, a boating accident sent someone to the hospital.
Last year Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd) introduced an ordinance to limit the volume of music played from boats in the Playpen. He said he would face a growing number of noise complaints from people living along the lakeshore.
