Havasupai Goes Wrong

(Now updated with more pictures)
I went up a day early to spend the first day at Havasupai with the youth from church (seen in my last post). I had already had a trip planned to go there for almost the same days from a year ago. On Friday morning I hiked to the village to meet up with my friends and family. This is the 3rd year we've gone in the last 4. My 4th time in the past 7. I love this place!

Friday was a fun day. Some relaxed and some hit the falls. Friday night we stayed up late in one of the rooms, laughed and had a great time. I wish I would have taken more pictures that day. At 11 pm we all headed to our beds. For most it had been a long day of hiking and playing.

Saturday we hiked to Beaver Falls. Part of the group went up a little earlier than the others.
This is where everything starts to go wrong. Some of us were already down to Beaver Falls when we got word that my cousin Alisa fell and broker her ankle. (2:15 pm) She was rock climbing down to the falls, slipped and fell 8 to 12 ft and landed on her ankle. She continued to fall and hit her head, and then luckily there was a man, Patrick, sitting on the ledge playing his guitar, where she fell and caught her to prevent her from falling another 20-25 feet into the water. People immediately began to help her and this sub-human German, Patrick, who stopped the remainder of her fall RAN the 6 miles of rugged terrain back to camp to get help and elicited help along the way. Once I heard I hiked up with Darin back up to where she was. It was so scary. She was in and out of consciousness and was not doing well. At this moment we were more worried about her head injury than her ankle, though it was clearly broken. Would she make it to when the helicopter got there? As I stood 20-25 feet above her on a ledge I felt helpless. Jason (her husband), Trisha (her sister-in-law), Steve (her friend that saw her fall), and Reuben (her very good friend) were at her side.

(Jason, Trisha, Alisa, Steve, Patrick, Reuben)

Risking others to get down to the ledge was simply not worth it...nor was there room. Watching those on the ledge do everything they could to bring her what comfort they could. Jason right by her side. Trisha holding her head. Reuben holding her hand and rubbing her arm. Steve and Reuben blocking her from the sun once it shone on the ledge. I sat up above wishing I could do something to help, other than just pray and feel completely helpless. About 4 pm, Chad (my cousin, Alisa's brother, Trisha's husband) recommended that those that were up above her hike back before it get dark. He said that we could stay, but we really couldn't do anything for her and it was going to get dark and we only had 2 flashlights to get everyone out once she was rescued. At this point it was better to have less people there anyway. Easier to save one than a multitude. As we were heading back, not more than 5 minutes after we left Alisa, there was Patrick. He had RAN back to Alisa with a native first responder, who eventually radioed for a helicopter. Darin, Ben and I got to Mooney as others were leaving. Doug and Brittany had filled up water to bring to those on the ledge. They were almost out of water when we left. Doug and Darin hiked 3 miles back with the water. A couple Vegas firefighters heard about the situation and also came to assist. It took 4 hours of her lying on the ledge with a few people by her side to get the helicopter to come and try to rescue her. After many attempts they couldn't get to her and when they did they didn't have enough gas to pull her out. It started getting dark and they can't rescue in the dark, so her and Jason, and a medic that repelled down a rope (from the helicopter!) stayed the night with her on a ledge in the middle of nowhere! I think the most frustrating part was that they had her hooked on to take her up and they unhooked her and flew off. By this time I am back at the village waiting for the helicopter to come in with her. Finding out that they couldn't rescue her that night was difficult to hear. She had to be in pain and on that ledge and having to stay the night. As our group was standing around we had many well wishers that were hanging around as well. Once we heard that no rescue would take place that night, a native came up to us and introduced himself as Joel. He asked if he could pray with us. He said a very beautiful prayer and asked Heavenly Father to be with her. We headed back to one of the rooms and we all got on our knees and Janelle said a prayer. Many prayers were said that night, vocal and silent. Russ and Kristin hiked supplies back to them around 9PM and didn't get back until 2AM. I stayed up and didn't even lay down in bed until about 3 minutes before Russ and Kristin got back. Kristin was staying in the same room as I was. I wanted to make sure they were safe. It was horrible. The people who were with Alisa (Trisha, Chad, Reuben, Steve, Doug, Darin) left when they realized she was going to be there all night and NO one had enough supplies, hiked back and got back around midnight. Jason stayed with Alisa. It is a rough hike and kinda unsafe around Mooney Falls in the day...night would be horrible. If you've ever rock climbed down Mooney during the day, you know what I'm talking about. Even the native guy that was sent to bring supplies with Russ and Kristin, back out when they got to Mooney Falls and said he couldn't do it. He strapped his pack onto Russ' pack and wished him well. The rescue team came back around 5:20 AM in the light and tried again. Alisa was alert and talking. She was grateful for everything everyone did to help her. The medic rescue guy when he came back from the rescue said that the difficulty level was 9/10! It was unsafe for everyone involved. Jason almost got knocked over into the water (20 ft fall) because of the force of the helicopter and Alisa kinda flying around as they were lifting her off the ledge. They brought her back to the village to transport her from the rescue helicopter to the life flight helicopter. Part of our group was waiting for her to get in before they hiked out. She had an obvious break in her right ankle and she had a nice little bump/abrasion on the back of her head. Neurologically everything was intact. Her concussion had ran most of its course and we knew she was lucky. They life-flighted her to Vegas. Janelle waited for Jason to hike out (6 miles all alone after Alisa was rescued) and was standing in line for a helicopter to get her and Jason out of there quickly, just after 10 when they finally start flying people out. They didn't move them up in line, they had to pay for the flight and the extra bag. It was good that Janelle had gotten their early, made friends and a family that had seen here there at 4 let them tag along with them on the sign up sheet. From there they could drive to Vegas (Janelle is a very good friend of Alisa's and a nurse that lives in Vegas...amazing how everything just seem to fall into place). They got to the hospital around 2:40PM and Alisa was already in surgery to stabilize her ankle. Everything else turned out great. The major problem is her ankle. It was a pretty severe break. She broke both the bones in her legs where they attach to the ankle and she dislocated her ankle. They couldn't do anything to repair the break during the first surgery because the swelling was so bad (considering it was 24 hours old) so they put an external fixator (picture a halo (for neck fractures) on her ankle) it's a big metal bird cage around her lower right leg. She needs to have surgery in 7-10 days and she'll be able to do that in Phoenix. She is back in Phoenix now. ((Once I get copies of the rescue pictures, I'll post them. I didn't take pictures while I was up there because it was just too touchy)) There was an article in a Flagstaff Newspaper, though most of their fact were wrong.

Before... After...

She has a long road of recovery ahead of her. Her second surgery will be sometime next week, hopefully, if they can find a surgeon here to take on her case. With many months of physical therapy and patience. When I tore all 4 of my ligaments in my ankle 2 years ago, I was in PT for 7 months (pre and post surgery) and it took 12 months out of my life. Life as I knew it will never be the same, though I can do everything that I love, with caution. The road ahead for her will very long and very hard. I pray that she too will be able to do everything she loves again. This is one of her biggest worries. She loves to run and exercise and she also worries about finding the right doctor to repair her ankle. Please keep her in your prayers.

This is an excerpt of an email she sent after being discharged from the hospital on Tuesday and before she left Vegas. We felt like prayers were being answered, but until she said this, we didn't know to what extent. "... I want you all to know that I feel your prayers on our behalf. I felt the prayers that night we spent in the canyon. It was nothing short of a miracle that I didn't feel more than I did and I KNOW it is the blessings of Heavenly Father. I could hardly go more than an hour without morphine once I actually got to the hospital. I promise you that it was because of the many prayers said by you all. ... Alisa AKA Dramatic Rescue Mountain Roller! ;o)"

Sunday we went to church at the local LDS Branch in Supai. It was the only time I was allowed or would have gone to church in shorts and hiking boots and felt welcomed and comfortable. After being in the canyon for 4 full days, these were the cleanest clothes I had. The high counselman spoke on being slow to anger.
(Darin, Carey, Chad, Trisha, Brittany, Doug, Nilda, Julie)

Monday morning we hiked out. Of our group of 24, this was all that was left. One quick after picture and we started to pack up to leave.

We ran into the 2 Las Vegas firefighters that helped that afternoon on the ledge. Here is Chad, Trisha and Steve with them.

As if that weren't enough. We got in the car and were laughing and having a good time. When we got signal on our way back to the main highway, Jason had sent a text letting us know Alisa was okay and what was wrong. About the same time Brittany and Doug got a voice message that brought concern. Brittany repeatedly called her dad back until she had enough signal to hear. Once we had good signal, we pulled over the car and they received devastating news. Their 1 year old baby, Daxton, had died earlier that morning. As long as I live, I pray that I never have to witness that again. For more information, please visit their blog at http://www.dbkunz.blogspot.com/

If you are reading this, please keep all of them in your prayers. Prayers are heard and prayers do work!

For some pictures of the rescue, please see http://www.photojenicblog.net/ "I am thankful"