Fourteen Year Old Girl (ATS Member-4thefight) Survives 50-ft Fall (True Story)

Wow Thank you all for you kind words. I really didnt thank people would be that interested. I feel now as if my self esteem has gone up emensly. Ill be here if anyone has any questions. Thank you sizzle for doing this for me.

[edit on 24-4-2008 by 4thefight]

Tears streaming down my face, water running from my nose, yes your incredible and postive story is one I will carry close to my heart forever my child.

reply to post by antar


Wow thank you antar for your kind words.

How are you doing now? How has this affected your ability to sit in class or get your education? You obviously have reached above and beyond the physical to attain much insight and your positive attitude is something we can all learn from, how is it possible after all you have survived? I wish I could give you applause and mega points too, you really deserve all you can recieve. It is not the pity card either, it is the courage one.

reply to post by 4thefight


You are an inspiration to each and every one of us who have read your story. The strength of character revealed in the amazing recovery is something that all of us, no matter what age we are, can aspire to.

You have given us all hope out of misfortunes that may befall us and come out of it stronger than ever, just like you have.

I'm very impressed.

I was walking around on crutches by October of 2001. Walking on my own by December. I graduated high school a half of a year early eager to get out on my own. I had my last surgery in 2006, on my ankle. ANd now I work and get along fine. Most people I meet don't even know what I have survived. Most of the time it is kids who ask when they see all my scars. I have three scars on my wrist and the one on top of my wrist keloid so it sticks up pretty bad. And the one on my upper arm looks like a huge centipeid, and I tend to get stares when I am in a tank top or swimsuit. I think the weight gain was the biggest change, being stuck in a wheelchair and hospital bed will do that to you

I think I remained so postive was because of my mom. Not long after my accident they found that she had breast cancer and she was so postive. I thought well if she can go though loosing her hair, the vomitting, and still going back every week for chemo, why am I complaining about a little pain. My mom really forced me to do more than what I thought I was capable of.

When the doctor wanted to amputate my arm and my mother refused, she told me that doctors are not always right and if I have enough will-power I could move it again. It took years but now I can move pretty much like normal. I went back to see the doctor that did my wrist surgery two years after the fact. When he saw I could move my elbow he cried. I could not believe a doctor would be that invested in my well-being. I am so thankful that he was my doctor.

reply to post by masqua


Thank you maqua, I am really glad sizzle talked me into posting my story. Seeing how everyone has reacted and knowing that my story helps encourge people means the world to me.

Incredible. Thank you so much for sharing this with us. It kinda made me relive one of my own memories all over again.

reply to post by 4thefight


I too write this note with tears streaming. I was badly hurt in a snowmobile accident and know all to well the long road to recovery.

I hope you don't mind me asking but your words about floating and the feeling of content intrigued me. Does your memory of this experience fade with time past or do you still feel the attachment?

Again, thank you for sharing your story with us, incredible gal.

Edit to add. My deepest sympathy for the loss of your mother as well.

[edit on 24/4/08 by Rhain]

The peace that I felt was utterly indescribable. I don't even know how to put it in words. I had no fear, no pain, no darkness. I have not felt that at peace sense that happened. It ended sometime in the hospital, but I can clearly remember the feeling at the bottom of the falls and in the helicoptor. It was as if nothing was wrong with the world. I don't know if it was the endorphins, or something unexplainable, but it was the most amazing feeling I have ever felt.

When my mom passed she had been struggling for day and was at the point where she could not talk, open her eyes, or move. Our whole family gathered around her, and she opened her eyes and smiled, that is the closest I have gotten to feeling that peace again. And sure it hurt like hell, but to know that she was feeling that peace gave me unbelievable comfort.

I spent alot of time trying to recapture that peace but with no luck. I believe that whereever we go after this life that has to be what it must feel like.

edit:

The floating I experenced watching my cousin run down to me I cannot explain. I remember it as if it were yesterday, I revisited the falls about 3 years ago and could point out the exact route he had took to get down to me. I didn't see myself just him, so I don't know if you would call it an out of body experience. After I fell I left that part out when speaking to the news reporters, because I thought people would think I was crazy. After doing alot more research over the years, I have come to relize that alot of people have the same experences and I should embrace it.

[edit on 24-4-2008 by 4thefight]

Originally posted by 4thefight
I closed my eyes and didn’t feel myself hit the ground. I watched my cousin run down to me, which I know now that there was no possible way I could see him, as I was unconscious according to him. He reached me, and covered me with a towel. And said stay here I am going to get help. It was as if I was looking down on myself and him, then I “woke up”

Incredible story. Sounds like you may have actually been dead (Or nearly) for a moment. It must be really odd to see yourself. Sort of like when you're listening to a recording of yourself you think "Is that really me?"

I admire your bravery and courage. Thanks for sharing this story with us.

Incredible story. Sounds like you may have actually been dead (Or nearly) for a moment. It must be really odd to see yourself. Sort of like when you're listening to a recording of yourself you think "Is that really me?"

Well I don't remember actually seeing myself, but I did have the feeling of floating. The area where my body lay, there was no way I could have watched my cousin from the ground. It was almost as if I was watching over him.

Originally posted by 4thefight
The peace that I felt was utterly indescribable.

Lucky.

I felt pain. Lots and lots of horrible pain.

About 15 years ago, I'd gone skiing on a black slope alone during a youth-group ski trip. I was fairly used to it at the time, an experienced skier, and probably could have taken the slope okay, had I not cheaped out by $5 on the skis themselves. Going off a mogul, my binding breaks only about 1/4 down the trail, and no matter how hard I try, I can't get the stupid boot to stay locked into the ski. So I start walking down the slope, skis in one hand, poles in the other. Then I slip.

It's pretty steep, the slopes are icy. I slide. At first it's embarassing. My skis are somewhere up the trail from me, and it's going to be a pain to get them once I stop. I don't stop. I try to use the poles to stop myself and not only lose them, but wrench an arm out of socket. Now, I'm not only sliding down the slope, but I'm headed towards the edge of about a 400 foot drop. Now I'm scared.

I tried everything, but I just slid right over the edge, into air. I thought "Well, I guess that's it. This is how I die," and shortly afterward it felt like I got hit by a truck and left in a frying pan.

There had been one tree, about fifty feet down or so, sticking out of the edge of the cliff. It was the only one around for a very long ways. Another 300-400 feet below me was the ground, and about 50 feet above me was the edge of the cliff. Far above it, I could just barely make out part of the ski lift. They shouted something like "Are you alright?"

I just spat blood. I couldn't breathe very well. I couldn't move half my body, and the half that could move was afraid the merest inch would make me fall off the tree. So I just laid there, half my body feeling like it was burning on the skillet, dripping blood from my mouth, and too afraid to turn my head to watch it hit the ground.

About a million years later, the ski patrol showed up, looked over the edge, and asked if I was alright. I responded about the same way I did the ski lift. When they realized they couldn't ski down a sheer drop to come get me, one of them left to go get some rope. Another million years later, they came back, and realized there wasn't enough rope, because the nearest tree was too far away. Several of them left to get stuff.

In a timeframe that can only be described as glacial, they finally got enough rope to lower what looked like a partially deflated banana underneath me.

"Fall in to it!" they shouted. Right.

There's this tiny thing barely as wide as I was, swinging in the wind, dangling several feet beneath me, and slightly to the side, and a whole lot of nothing between it and the ground. I'm supposed to "fall into it".

However, there just wasn't any other option. They couldn't bring a helicopter in for some reason, and I have no idea why one of them couldn't have rappelled down to me never occurred to them, or why they didn't just send me a bowline. No, they send me a retarded banana and tell me to "fall into it."

"Screw it," I figured I was supposed to have died earlier anyway, if I was going to die this time around it was fate. So I rolled of the tree and landed in the banana which was admittedly a lot bigger once I was in it.

It hurt even more than the tree branch. I screamed like a little girl, no offense. Whatever innards had busted or bones had cracked, falling off the tree into the banana had made it a million times worse. I was later told this is because blood was finally going back into the areas that had been pinched off while I was treebound. I think the truth is because the banana hated me.

It was the worst pain I in my entire life, and the greatest pain I would ever know...until about five minutes later when they'd hauled me over the edge of the cliff, back onto the slop, and inflated the banana the rest of the way. THAT was (and still is) the worst pain of my life. That would be because they'd just forced broken bones up through skin, which is probably what caused the slow leak in the banana. Regardless, while it was inflated with air, it prevented me from moving anything at all, and only my face showed through the inflatable ski-stretcher.

So they're skiing down the slope with me, paralyzed, in tow. I could kind of feel the thing starting to sag on one side, and when we hit a mogul, it flipped over. My face being the only thing poking out, it got shredded by the ice. I left this enormous bloody trail behind me, and apparently people were pointing and shouting to ski patrol, because eventually they righted me, and also because my youth minister at the time saw the last part happen and thought "You know I think I know who that is," so he followed them as they skied me over the paramedic's tent.

The paramedics weren't going to touch me one bit. Why? I didn't have a credit card. I was just a teen, and back then, teens didn't get credit cards. The minister, thankfully, walked in, laid his credit card down, and asked them to proceed, otherwise, I'd probably be disfigured and crippled for life, since the nearest major hospital was a long ways off, which is where they sent me once I was stabilized.

Nowadays, you'd never have known my face was deli-meat that day, or how many bones I'd broken. It wasn't a great time in my life, but I've also had worse times since then. Because of it, though, no matter how much pain I'm in, I can always say "yeah, but it's not as bad as the time I fell off a cliff."

Anyway, figured you might get a kick out of what happened to me, being in a unique position to understand what it felt like.

that is an amazing story! Thank you so much for sharing. I don't know if I could have handled being in that much pain, my pain didnt come to after my first surgeries. How many bones did you break? That was messed up that they would not treat you because you didn't have a credit card. When I fell my father didn't have any insurance on me, he had let it lasp. Lucky for me, the hospital was wonderful and they worked with me family and treated me anyways. I am sure my dad is still paying on that hospital bill lol.

What really got me is that almost the exact same thing ran through our minds as we went over the edge.

reply to post by thelibra


Does it bother you to relive what happened to you. I know I was typing my story up last night it was almost as if reliving it. Does that happen to you?

reply to post by sizzle

You will notice a discrepancy in the height difference in the amount of feet involved in fall. Some articles read, 80 ft, some proclaimed 40-50ft.

I wanted to clear that up for all who are reading. I slid at a downward slope for about 30-40 feet and free fell the rest of the way.

reply to post by 4thefight


Hi 4thefight,
I almost listed the story as an 80 ft fall, but, you see we have skeptics here on ATS. LOL! They would have made us get out our measuring tapes and measure the thing precisely. Just kidding.
I really wasn't sure about the discrepancy, and as you had signed off for the evening, I took the least line of resistance. Thanks for clearing it up.

great story. Glad I got to here it. One of the many I will take with me.
(BTW enjoy your stay at ATS 4tw)

4thefight,

I salute you, your strength, courage and determination.

Semper

I would just like to say, what an uplifting story. Thank you so much for Sizzle posting it up and a huge Thank You to 4thefight.

It actually made me look at life a little differently today. Im sorry about your mother but so glad to hear you are almost back to full mobility and living life normally.

Thanks for sharing this difficulty to triumph part of your life story.

Silver

Edited for Typo

[edit on 25-4-2008 by S1LV3R4D0]