Your wife is the lady in the.
The rescue that everybody has?
Yes, that's her.
Yeah, Katie and I were hiking.
Off of the Piestewa Peak and we
were on the trail end of our hike.
On a somewhat flat area when she's
stubbed her toe and fell face down
onto the rock and she broke her nose,
broke her glasses.
Hurt her left hand and left
leg and there was bleeding.
So I had to stop the bleeding.
And once I saw where the blood was coming
from and knew that if she was alright,
she was talking to me at all times.
And so I had to walk a distance
to get hold of 911 because
there was no reception there.
And so I had to call three or four times
and each time I was speaking to the
fire department and we lost connection.
But finally they got my GPS coordinates.
And and.
No snow where the rain don't fall,
the women don't blow in the big
rock candy mountains in the.
That ruin everything. It's OK.
So you try to call 911, but
yeah, and we got through finally
and we have our GPS coordinates.
And so about that time 2 hikers came by and.
One of the ladies stayed with me and the
other one went to the cul-de-sac to make
sure the fireman knew where we were.
And it was 20 minutes,
maybe 25 minutes later, what,
15 firemen or so came and they looked at
Kati and they took her blood pressure,
checked for vitals and.
Was talking to her and then they
discussed what they were going to do,
whether they were going to roll her out,
our flyer out.
And then she told them that
her hip was hurting her.
So the fire department made her
decision to bring a helicopter in
and because they didn't want to do
any damage to a possible hip injury.
So probably 10 minutes later,
maybe 15 minutes later,
the helicopter came and they hooked her up.
And put her in the basket to with a
helmet and restraints and so forth and
the next thing I knew she was flying
in the air and of course everybody saw this.
The spinning and.
And you know what happened?
I'm not sure.
I'm not technically
knowledgeable enough to know why.
But I know up to that point the
firemen were just wonderful.
You know, they,
they did everything to make her comfortable.
And so they were even,
you know,
the ones that were near me were a
little bit awed by the spitting
and how long it went.
And then the last time I saw her,
the helicopter was flying over
the hill and the spinning,
I think it was a couple of minutes,
the spinning has subsided.
And,
and she went over the hill to the
cul-de-sac and then I lost sight
of her and then I had to walk out.
The firemen were with me,
making sure that I was OK and
they were very good and nice.
And I got in my car and came to the
hospital here at JC Lincoln and I
had to wait an hour or so because
she was being checked out by the
trauma team to make sure everything
was OK no internal bleeding,
no damages and so forth.
So about an hour, maybe a little hour later,
I was able to visit her and she
was happy to see me and.
You know only first thing she said.
I'm glad I'm alive because she
thought she was gonna die.
When she was spinning,
but she's in pretty good health otherwise.
And so she started deep breathing
exercises and she just kept
breathing in and out slowly and
and that kept her from passing out.
And so she was very happy to see me,
of course and then.
The trauma team was meeting with
her both morning and evening,
and they did complete test on
her for any damages.
And the trauma doctor told me that a
combination of the fall and the spinning,
you know, is the result of
her swelling and immobility.
So they they're very, they're very good.
They've been very thorough.
And in fact, they did another MRI
today to make sure everything was OK.
And the big hole back right now
she's very dizzy and nauseous.
So she hasn't been able to get out
of bed and do any therapy on her leg.
So they're trying to stabilize that.
So right now we are hopeful that that.
That she's going to be out
her feet here soon.
So, you know,
so far everybody's taking good care of her,
as far as I, you know,
to the best of my knowledge.
So right now she's. A little bit better.
Well, if she still hasn't been
able to get out of bed, so.
Better is not better until the
nauseous Ness and dizziness goes away.
She's on painkiller pills right now,
some type of relaxant.
Pain relaxant and so,
but her biggest pain right now
is is in her hand right now,
so her head seems to be much better.
So and then, a plastic surgeon
said her nose would heal by itself
and there's no broken bones.
So she still feeling, feeling that nausea?
Yeah, yeah. And her face is still
all swollen and her hands and feet
are much better now. The, you know,
the swollenness there has gone down.
So, but the face shows a lot of,
you know, blood vessels that broke.
You know, vessels from the spinning,
it could be the spinning and
a combination of the fall.
You know it's hard. I I don't know.
You know the medical people
can't be sure what caused it.
You know, it could be caused by
both or a combination of both.
You know I'm I'm not qualified
to say and I really don't know.
You know,
I do feel that some of her injuries
right now are because of the spinning.
Well, there's no doubt, but you know,
I'm not qualified to say.
To what extent, you know,
either way, you know,
it'd be you'd have to speak to somebody
medically who who's more knowledgeable.
I just know that the spinning.
Was a very unwelcome event,
you know, but.
And we're hopeful that she's
recovering here soon, you
know. So the first thing that she
told you was when you were first
able to talk to her again. I'm
glad I didn't die. Alright.
I thought I was gonna die, you know?
That was the first thing.
So I didn't see.
He was happy to see me, you know?
So then she settled down a little bit
and went through the deep breathing
and telling me how she stayed awake.
Did she tell you why she felt that way?
Well, she said, you know what was happening.
Everything was spinning so fast the blood
was going to her head, into her eyeballs.
And if you didn't know what was happening?
So, I mean, she wouldn't know she was all
strapped in with a helmet and everything, so.
If you didn't expect this,
and then did you say that you saw
her spinning? Oh, absolutely. I
I just didn't know why.
I didn't know if she was dead or alive.
You know and you know you
couldn't tell, you know.
So once I got to the probably sack,
one of the firemen said she was awake
and they put her in a stretcher,
so that helped a lot.
They were very good about making
sure that that they wanted to
drive me to the hospital. Even
so, did the fireman tell you like, did you
like when you see her spinning, did you?
No, they they just one of
them said ohh my gosh.
And then they didn't say anything else.
They were just looking just like me.
You know, they didn't really
have anything to say,
you know, for this fight to be over.
I think they were waiting for the
spinning to stop, just like I was,
you know? And just watching. You
know you're seeing that.
What's going through your?
Well, it was terrible, you know, I was,
you know what's happening to her?
How long is this gonna go on, you know?
Will she be alright?
Is she gonna throw up?
You know, who knows? You know?
So. You know, but I was happy
when I got to the parking lot when
somebody said she was awake, so.
That was very comforting to me.
So they were very good about
staying around till I got there.
So. And like I said,
three of them walked me to my car.
So. And then you drove yourself.
I drove myself. They asked me if if I was OK,
and I was, you know, I said,
long as I knew she was talking,
I felt better. So it gave me the energy
to get to the hospital, OK on my own.
These videos. No, and I want you to.
I don't wanna show them to her
and she doesn't want to see them.
Not yet. I want to let her get when
she's walking around a little bit.
You know, maybe then, but right now.
I don't think she wants to see you.
And what is your response to this incident?
Well, you know.
The biggest thing, she said.
I feel so stupid that I tripped.
That was the first thing.
Of course, you know,
the second thing is.
You know, the helicopter ride was terrible.
And right now. She's in pain and.
And not and dizzy, you know,
if the dizziness and the drought,
you know, and the nausea would go away.
I think if she begins therapy
then she's going to feel better,
you know,
so she's pretty resilient,
you know,
so she's pretty good hiker.
I hear you guys go hiking almost daily,
12 miles a week typically.
Yeah. And this was another one of those.
Ohh, yeah, typical hike and on the
flat ground, you know, you know,
we went up a mountain and down a mountain
and then we were on a flat area.
So it happened. You know,
I suppose you could trip on a sidewalk.
So just so I understand, I'm sorry,
I've been on and off trying to
focus my camera settings here,
but you said that it was a trip
like nothing big. She just tripped.
And then that's when she broke her. Now
she she fell and put her hands down,
but the side of the hill on the
right side was higher so it
wasn't able to stop her fall.
And everything shifted to her left
hand and left leg and then her face.
Hit the ground and the glass is broken.
Cut her nose. So that was basically.
The fall and so at that point
it was a sore nose.
And the Thor's hand and a sore hip and
left leg, so that was her signs of.
Trauma, you know, otherwise, you know,
she was fully conscious the whole time.
Do you regret calling for help?
Oh, no. There's no way. There's no way we.
I could have helped her with with
with not not knowing whether her
hip was broken or leg was damaged.
And the firemen were
extraordinarily quick and thorough.
You know, they were checking everything.
They checked her body,
they moved her leg. They, you know,
they put a neck brace on her and they
would have walked her out except,
you know, she told him that her hip.
Thor so they for safety reasons,
they thought the helicopter
was the best route.
So it was just the spinning.
Part of this whole
ohh the helicopter ride without the
spinning would have been the right thing
to do, probably, I wouldn't you say?
I would say so too,
yeah, typically the helicopter ride
is not eventful. You know, so.
So I don't know what happened, you
know, do you? Plan on taking legal
action against the prior department
because of that spending? No. No.
At this point I don't
see any reason I've got.
Everybody was doing their best.
You know, and I was very happy
with the way they were operating.
It's just whatever happened,
I'm not knowledgeable enough to know why.
You know, as somebody with more skills
than I would have to answer that question.
I'm just not able to.
Same thing with medical,
you know, I just,
I just know they're doing everything
they can to get her back on her feet.
And your response to so many of us
wanting to know how she's doing?
Well, I'm glad for all the good wishes.
You know, and with those I'll
be sure and extend that to her
when I see her in a few minutes.