Michael Rosenfield

‘The Hunger Games' Story Inspires Real-Life Heroine in Rockport

A Massachusetts girl may have saved her friend's life with something she learned from a popular movie.

They like to giggle about it now, but for a group of sixth graders, it was a frightening incident that happened at a recent birthday party in Gloucester.

The girls jumped into a marsh along the Annisquam River, and Mackenzie George hit a piece of metal embedded under the water line.

She came up with a 10-inch gash on her leg, and there was blood everywhere.

“I thought I was going to die because in science we’re learning about the body systems,” said George. “And I knew there was an artery like right above it in my thigh, so I thought I was going to bleed out.”

But that’s when her friends jumped into action.

Zoe ran home to get help, Pip called 911, and Megan Gething went to work on Mackenzie’s leg, relying on a scene from "The Hunger Games" for inspiration.

The lead character tears up a shirt to help a friend who’s bleeding, so Gething improvised.

“I stole Sarah’s shorts,” Gething said. “I read about it in The Hunger Games.”

Gething used the shorts to try to stop all the blood.

“And she wrapped it around my leg and turned it into a tourniquet and it stopped the bleeding,” said George.

The friends, all of them classmates at Rockport Middle School, were dazzled by the display of skill.

“I was amazed at what Megan was doing,” said Morgan Reilly. “I saw her holding this black material, and I was like what the heck is that, she said I think this will help.”

George's dad, a police officer, is grateful for the 12-year-olds who tried to keep as calm as possible, especially Gething.

“Certainly if she didn’t take such quick actions there would have been dramatic blood loss,” said Gregory George. “Each one of them did something amazing well over their age, we’re very proud of them.”

Mackenzie ended up in the hospital, and had surgery to her leg. She has 48 stitches, but she’s expected to make a full recovery.

“I didn’t know that was a thing, a tourniquet,” said Mackenzie. “I had no idea what that was until she did it.”

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