Eddie Vedder Saved From Canoe, Pays Rescuers Back In Beautiful Way

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The Intertia recently published a story about Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder being rescued from a six person canoe over a decade ago. Vedder was on a six-person sailing canoe when it overturned. Half the crew was able to get back on, but without paddles. The wind shot the vessel out of reach of Vedder and two female companions, but fortunately Ashley Baxter and her father Keith rescued Vedder after Baxter advised her father to check a noise she heard.

Vedder is now paying back the family that rescued him big time in their time of need. Keith was in a boating accident where a rusty anchor nearly cuts his leg off at the calf, leaving him with a bone infection that has thus-far been incurable.

The Intertia article states:

Ashley randomly ran into Kacky Ovrom Chamberlain, who was apparently saved along with Vedder by the family that fateful day, and told her about the accident and Keith’s subsequent troubles. Ovrom Chamberlain contacted Vedder and helped set up a GoFundmePage, which raised $70,000 for treatments not covered by insurance on Keith’s leg (he still might lose his limb). Well Vedder–whose song “Future Days,” was inspired by the rescue—came up huge this week, with Pearl Jam members matching the money already earned and helping to bring the grand total to over $140,000.

“Yes, it’s all true,” Karen Baxter wrote us in an email. “Pearl Jam (Eddie, Stone, Jeff, Mike, and Matt) matched what was originally raised ($70K) through Gofundme.com.”