Jerrie Millican wanted more than anything to watch the tiny, endangered sea turtles emerge from the sand and instinctively waddle into the ocean.

She wanted to help patrol the beaches for nests, and she wanted to hold the small, soft eggs when the nests needed to be moved.

Instead, she watched.

For four years, Millican watched everyone else who volunteered with Share the Beach, an organization that seeks to increase the survival rate of sea turtle nests along the Alabama coast, get out and help save the creatures she had learned all about—the turtles she educated people about everywhere she went—but she couldn’t physically help them.

Last year, Millican weighed 289 pounds and suffered when she walked because her knees were strained under the weight.

“I was having a hard time to even get to the nest. I had bad knees, and I was just really heavy,” Millican said. “I couldn’t get down to help. I could go and sit, but somebody would have to get my chair, and they’d help me back to the car. Finally, I said, ‘That’s enough. This is affecting my life, and I’ve got to stop this.’”

She needed a radical change. Next year, she had to be able to help.

“I told my friends, ‘These turtles—I can’t enjoy them,’” Millican said. “‘I can’t even walk down to the beach and see them go into the water; I can only stand up here at the top. Next year, I’m going to be better.’”

Getting healthy

So Millican decided to have gastric bypass surgery. She talked to her doctor about it last September, and she had the procedure in November of 2011.

So far, she’s lost 120 pounds.

“And I’m not through yet,” she said.

Millican walks at least two miles a day, exercises and eats healthful food.

“It’s just a different lifestyle,” she said. “I choose to go out and do things instead of sitting and watching TV. And when I go out to eat, I always get something small, and I always end up bringing most of it home with me. The way I cook, just the way I live is different.”

And she keeps a picture of her turtles, along with photos of her five grandchildren—the two reasons for her lifestyle change—on her refrigerator for motivation.

“I think the turtles and being so disappointed was my biggest motivator, and I said, if I get myself healthy and have a healthier life, I can play with my grandkids, I can do this with the turtles and I can get around so much better,” she said. “And I do.”

This year, Millican was able to do every one of the activities she longed to help with for so long.

“I was able to actually handle eggs for the first time this year. I actually helped move the nests this year,” she said. “I got to be there and listen with my stethoscope. I got to talk to so many more people this year.”

Millican is passionate about educating people in the community about how they can help the sea turtles, and Lisa Graham, Share the Beach’s Orange Beach team leader, said that losing the weight has allowed Millican to reach even more people, an effort that earned her the honor of being named volunteer of the year.

“I believe she has educated more people on Share The Beach and saving sea turtles than any other volunteer,” Graham said. “Jerrie would go door to door in the condominiums that would be located behind our nests and leave ‘do not disturb sea turtle nest’ door-hangers. She would come to the nest early and leave late with her photo album ready to tell everyone about her passion—saving sea turtles.”

Sea turtles

So why is Millican so passionate about helping sea turtles? Like someone who suffers from obesity or any other ailment, the odds are stacked against these creatures.

A female sea turtle can make up to 10 nests per year. She swims to shore, waddles slowly away from the water and uses her powerful back flippers to dig a round hole in the sand, where she deposits 50-160 perfectly round, soft-shelled eggs that look a lot like ping pong balls. She covers them up, packing the sand protectively around the eggs. Then, she swims away and never returns.

About 55 to 75 days later, tiny sea turtles begin emerging from the sand and make their way to the ocean, where some scientists say they can live for up to 100 years.

At least that’s what should happen, Millican said.

Unfortunately, on developed beaches with a lot of human activity, the sea turtles face many challenges. Sometimes, the mother will run into a beach chair or tent and turn around, dropping her eggs into the ocean. Many of the turtles are laying their nests closer to the shore instead of in the dunes, where the eggs would be more protected. When the babies hatch, they are drawn to the brightest light, which in nature, is the moonlight reflecting on the water’s surface. But with high-rise condominiums lining Gulf Coast beaches, the tiny turtles become confused and end up in swimming pools or even on the road.

And even though the females have the potential to lay thousands of eggs, a sea turtle has only a one in 1,000 chance of surviving to adulthood.

Share the Beach

Millican and about 300 other volunteers work with Share the Beach every year. There are 54 volunteers in Orange Beach.

Every day during nesting season, which starts in May and ends in August, volunteers patrol the beaches at sunrise looking for nests. When they find one, they assess it to determine whether it needs to be moved to a safer location. When the eggs are in a safe location, volunteers mark the nest and place a screen over it to protect the eggs from predators like foxes and raccoons.

After 55 days, Save the Beach volunteers put up black tarps around the nest and the turtles’ future pathway to the water. This helps block out the light from the condos, Millican said.

Around the time when the eggs are supposed to hatch, teams set up camp at each nest every night. They listen with a stethoscope for scratching noises that indicate hatching. The volunteers then dig trenches that extend from the nest to the water’s edge, and when the tiny turtles emerge, they head straight for the water, Millican said.

Millican said watching that moment this year was one of the most exciting experiences of her life. But unlike any other volunteer, Millican felt an inexplicably strong connection with the endangered reptiles. After all, they inspired her to make a change that will probably add years to her life.

“I feel like I’ve helped save the turtles,” she said, “and my feeling is, they’ve helped save me.”

To learn more about sea turtles or volunteering with Share the Beach, contact the organization at adopt1@alabamaseaturtles.com or by calling 251-965-NEST. An annual meeting is held every April, and volunteers are always welcome. If you would like to help financially, show your support by committing to purchase a Share the Beach car tag. For more information about the tag, visit alabamaseaturtles.com.