Friend catches climber, 18, in 20-foot
fall before prom night
High schooler remains
in a coma in intensive care
Published: April 22, 2019 5:07
pm
MURRAY — A Utah high schooler who
fell while rock climbing and fractured her skull over the weekend never hit the
ground.
She
was caught by a friend 20 feet below, sparing her further injury during what
was meant to be a fun outing to Wasatch Mountain State Park just hours ahead of
prom night.
Braden
Patterson, 18, can’t remember much of what happened Saturday morning before Avery
Tanner, a fellow senior at Wasatch High School, landed in his arms. But he
believes she slammed into the wall more than once on the way down.
“I
remember hearing her hit the rocks and suddenly she was in my arms,” Patterson
recalled Monday. “I wasn’t thinking clearly enough to move myself to where I
needed to catch her and have the ability to catch her — so there was definitely
— I was guided by someone, by some angels, to move to where I needed to be.
They were there helping me stay standing up.”
Divine
intervention or not, he never lost his footing. A friend later told him he
backed into a tree while holding his unconscious friend, but Patterson said
there are no bruises on his 6-foot, 165-pound frame to indicate he crashed into
any bark.
“I
think by him being able to catch her, he definitely prevented more
injuries," said Tanner’s mother, Caysie Riley. "She doesn't have any
other injuries on her body, no breaks, no anything, just fractured the back of
her skull. So she was really lucky. I think it was just instinct. He happened
to be at the right place at the right time.”
On
Monday, the 18-year-old Tanner remained in a coma, a result of her injuries.
Doctors at Intermountain Medical Center in Murray have deemed her stable, her
mother said, but she could not yet breathe on her own. The prognosis depends on
whether she wakes up in coming days.
“It’s
pretty much a nightmare,” Riley said. Several in the group of teenagers told
her they believed her daughter may have gotten scared halfway down the wall and
possibly let go of the rope before hitting her head twice on the way down. She
finally landed in Patterson’s arms, where she began seizing. The group
immediately called police and prayed for her in the roughly 10 minutes it took
medical crews to arrive.
Moments
earlier, Patterson descended just ahead of Tanner in order to belay. They were
among more than a dozen teens who hiked to the towering rock on the southern
end of the park in the Soldier Hollow Nordic Center venue on Saturday morning.
No comments:
Post a Comment