Phone with last family photos of loved one recovered after year in northern Ontario river, still works

SAULT STE. MARIE -

An act of kindness by one Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.-area man is helping a grieving family that suffered a tragic loss last summer.

Jordan Miezlaiskis and her husband were visiting her brother, Jesse, and family in Goulais River from their North Carolina home last July.

The family wascelebrating Jesse's birthday and planned to stay over the next month.

On a day trip to Chippewa Falls, the family decided they'd take some photos together.

"At some point, I left my phone on a rock and we all watched it fall in the water," Jordan Miezlaiskis said. "We all tried to get it, it was like watching it fall in slow motion."

Miezlaiskis said her brother tried to fish out the phone with a magnet, but eventually they gave up due to the depth of the water.

"We cut our losses, laughed about it a bit," she said. "I kind of put it off after a bit and didn't think much about it."

That phone, however,would come to bear special meaning for them two months later.

"My brother passed away in an ATV collision about two months after we returned home," Miezlaiskis said. "It didn't totally hit me at first, but I realized pretty soon after that the phone I lost had the last photos of him and our family together."

One year later, Miezlaiskis and her husband revisited Goulais River, for Jesse's birthday again.

"It was to honour him, just like we did last year," she said. "But when we were there, I got a Facebook message from a complete stranger that was just unbelievable."

Miezlaiskis said a man had reached out to her after finding her phone in the water, while diving with his brother.

The phone had her driver's licence attached, which is how he was able to locate her.

"He thought we just lost it, maybe three or four days ago," Miezlaiskis said. "It had no visible damage to it whatsoever, you'd really never know it was under water for an entire year."

Miezlaiskis said the man offered to drive out and give the phone back to her the same day he reached out.

"I was extremely emotional," she said. "I hadn't seen it in a year and I knew what was on that phone."

As soon as it was returned, Miezlaiskis said she grabbed a phone charger to see if it would work.

"I started crying, we couldn't believe it turned on, it was as if nothing ever happened," she said.

"Just when you think you're never going to get something back or you kind of just accepted whatever has happened for what it is, good things can happen and there's truly good people out there."