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Arlington Heights lifesaver honored posthumously

An Arlington Heights woman who drowned while saving the life of a boy has been honored with a Carnegie award.

The Carnegie Hero Fund Commission honored Karen Wessel on Wednesday with a medal for heroism, ABC 7 reported on its website.

The Carnegie Medals honor people in the United States and Canada for acts of extraordinary civilian heroism.

Family and friends have praised Wessel for saving the boy while at Star Lake in northern Wisconsin on July 22, 2014. Police said three boys began swimming across a narrow channel toward a sandbar when adults told them to return to shore.

Wessel, 47, her sister Janice Potocki of Arlington Heights and their friend Karen Altamore jumped into the lake when the children struggled to reach land.

Potocki and Altamore brought two of the boys, including Wessel's 9-year-old son, Michael Barr, back to shore. An exhausted Wessel then swam out to rescue the third boy, Altamore's 9-year-old godson.

Wisconsin authorities said Wessel used her body to push the child above the surface to prevent him going under water, but she did not immediately resurface and later died at a hospital.

• Daily Herald staff writer Bob Susnjara contributed to this report.

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