Dogs are a man’s best friend. Or in some cases, a woman’s best friend. Endurance
runner Danelle Ballengee certainly thinks so. One chilly winter afternoon Danelle found
out just how loyal, smart and amazing her dog was. While hiking in the Moab, Utah desert
with her dog Tasman--Taz for short, Danelle suffered a horrible accident. This is the
amazing story of how Danelle’s goofy, hyper, squirrel chasing mutt helped to save her life.
Wednesday December 13, 2006 was chilly with temperatures in the mid 40’s (7 ish Celsius).
Just before noon, thirty five year old Danelle and three year old Taz headed out for a hike.
Danelle was dressed comfortably for a short run in baggy running pants and a fleece hat.
She had a few layers on her torso for warmth--silk long underwear, a water resistant shirt and
a thin fleece jacket. She also had on gloves.
While locking her phone and wallet in her truck near the trailhead, Danelle almost forgot
her fanny pack which contained a bottle of water, two raspberry flavored energy gels,
two Ibuprofen pills and a plastic shower cap from her last race. Adventure racers will
often put on a shower cap over their hats to prevent heat loss.
Despite the cold, it was sunny as Danelle and Taz started their run. The 90 minute,
8 mile (12.8 km) trek through the sandy red desert with its stunning rock formations was
one of her favorites. Her route began on the popular Amasa Back Trail and then veered off
of it after a few miles, on to a more obscure jeep trail used mainly by locals known as
the Mine Sweeper. From there, Danelle would scramble up the side of a hidden canyon and
head towards Hurrah Pass, eventually looping back to a road that led to her truck. As always,
Taz happily ran beside Danelle, occasionally darting off to investigate small creatures.
An hour into her run with 5 miles (8 km) completed, tragedy struck. While navigating a steep slope,
Danelle stepped on a patch of frozen lichen and her feet slipped out from under her. She
skidded down an icy rock face on her butt, rapidly picking up speed. Out of control,
she bounced off of one ridge and then another before free falling some 40 feet in a luge
position. She slammed into a four-foot square ledge landing on her feet. Below the ledge
was another sheer drop, Danelle surely would have died if she had missed hitting the protrusion.
The pain was excruciating. Danelle lay there a moment, stunned, the wind knocked out of
her. Worried that she was paralyzed, she felt her legs. Thankfully she could feel her hands
touching her legs. But when Danelle tried to stand up, she couldn’t.
She didn’t know what was wrong, but her lower torso simply wouldn’t support her
weight. Later, Danelle would learn that on impact, her pelvis had shattered, with cracks
throughout and breaks in four places. Three of her vertebrae were fractured and her sacrum
was split down the middle. Danelle knew she had to get out of the canyon.
She hadn’t told anyone where she was going, and she needed to reach an area where it was
likely for her to be discovered. Also, Taz had managed to find his way to Danelle, so
she knew there had to be a way out. At this point, endorphins and adrenaline were
coursing through Danelle’s body, helping with the pain. However, her left leg wouldn’t
move. Through sheer strength of will, Danelle scooted forward on her right knee, balanced,
then reached back with her hands and dragged her left leg forward.
Slowly, carefully maneuvering, Danelle reached the bottom of the canyon. She looked in her
fanny pack and found the ibuprofen. She swallowed the pills and kept crawling. She battled through
sand, brush and some snow. Eventually Danelle reached a flat rock near
a sinkhole filled with water. Exhausted and in great pain, she decided to rest here for
a bit. It was around 5 pm and it had taken her nearly 5 hours to crawl a quarter of a
mile (.402 km) Since it was growing dark, Danelle decided
to stay by the sinkhole for the night. She drank the remaining half of her water bottle
and tucked her hands between her legs because they were so cold. In the meantime, a swollen
lump the size of her fist had formed on her abdomen, her massive injuries were bleeding
internally. Danelle decided that being thirsty was worse
than maybe getting parasites from the sinkhole. She wanted to fill her water bottle, but it
hurt too much to turn over. So she reached backward over her right shoulder and filled
the water bottle without looking. However, she only allowed herself to drink
a few sips of water. Danelle knew that if she drank more than her body absolutely needed,
she would pee the excess water out. Since she couldn’t move, she’d wet herself.
The urine would eventually freeze on her clothes and skin, driving down her core temperature
and making it more likely that she’d freeze to death. Danelle ate sparingly of an energy
gel, rationing the rest for later. As the night wore on, the temperature dropped
into the 20s, (-5 ish Celcius). Danelle worried about hypothermia. She didn’t want to fall
asleep, she was afraid that she would never wake up. To keep her core warm, she did mini
crunches, raising her head and neck. Periodically she rubbed her hands and tapped her feet on
the rocks. Taz snuggled next to her and his body heat
helped. She couldn’t turn over to cuddle with him though, it hurt too much. Exhausted
and freezing, Danelle stared up at the night sky; there was no moon, the stars were abundant
and amazing. The next morning, Danelle was cheered up by
watching Taz playing with a stick. She ate a bit of energy gel. She tried to refill her
water bottle, but the water in the sinkhole had frozen overnight. She reached over her
shoulder and broke through the ice with the cap of her bottle.
Danelle spent 10 hours on the second day screaming for help. A few times she thought she heard
someone, but nobody appeared. Taz spent the day running off and returning, each trek longer
than the last. Danelle appreciated the warmth of the daylight
as the sun made its way across the sky. Every now and then she would allow herself a little
water or a bit of energy gel. However as afternoon became evening shadows once again grew in
the canyon. Daneille saw the shower cap from her fanny
pack a few feet away. She realized it would help her keep warm at night. It took her an
hour to crawl two feet to reach it. Meanwhile, a neighbor of Danelle’s noticed
something quite odd, all the lights had been on at Danelle’s house for a few days. Peering
through the window, she could see Danelle’s laptop on a table and the doors were unlocked.
Worried, she called Danelle’s parents. As it so happened Danelle’s parents were also
concerned, they hadn’t been able to reach her.
They called the police for a welfare check. The police visited Danelle’s house, but
found no signs of foul play. It just looked like Danelle left without locking up.
The second night in the canyon was worse. Danelle’s frostbite was growing, as was
the bulge of internal hemorrhaging in her midsection. The pain was unbearable. Taz wouldn’t
snuggle with her, she wondered if her screaming for help all day had frightened him.
Danelle thought about her life, her friends and family, wishing that she had told them
more often how much she loved them. For a while Danelle kept up her crunches and tapping
to keep warm, but eventually stopped, overwhelmed with despair.
She couldn’t see the stars. The dark sky was full of long, white stripes. She knew
her body was shutting down, and that she was probably hallucinating. Suddenly a voice began
urging Danelle to keep tapping, so she did. On Friday morning, Danelle dragged herself
off the rock. Her pants came off, because she couldn’t lift her butt off the ground.
She found herself worse off than before, stuck in a shallow depression. She spent 2 hours
crawling back onto the rock. Taz kept disappearing for longer and longer
periods of time. He would suddenly reappear to lick her face before disappearing again.
Later, Danelle would realize that Taz was running the 5 miles (8 km) to the trailhead
looking for help, before coming back to check on her. He did this even though he hadn’t
eaten in three days. Meanwhile, on a hunch, the detective assigned
to Danelle’s case decided to check out parking lots for local trails. He eventually discovered
Danelle’s truck tucked away in a little known parking area near the Amasa Back trail.
At 1:04pm, he alerted Grand County Search and Rescue that Danelle could be lost in the
desert. A rescue team quickly assembled at the trailhead
and was organizing equipment and going over a plan when Taz showed up. He barked and ran
in circles, but wouldn’t allow anyone to catch him. The rescuers realized that he was
Danelle’s dog and thought that they should follow him.
Initially, Taz led the rescuers away from the trailhead, back toward town. They thought
that was odd, but followed. Once Taz realized that the rescuers were following him, he turned
around. ‘Almost like he knew that he had attracted enough attention,’ one rescuer
said. The dog darted through the search party and took off towards the canyons. Unfortunately,
the rescuers couldn’t keep up, but realizing that Taz would soon pass some other searchers
who were riding ATVs further up the trail, they hastily radioed them to follow the dog.
Taz soon dashed past the ATV of Bego Gerhart, an Eagle scout and frequent rescue volunteer.
Taz stopped to look at Bego, who followed him. Taz ran further up the trail and stopped
to look at Bego again before disappearing. Thankfully Bego knew how to track. He found
fresh dog prints, dog prints that were a few days old and footprints that looked like they
could have been made by Danelle. Bego hurried back to his AVT and drove through the canyon
following the tracks. Danelle had finally crawled back onto the
rock and was laying there when Taz returned again. This time he ran to the sinkhole puddle
behind Danelle and started drinking. He drank and drank, he was really thirsty. Danelle
started worrying about her water supply and yelled at him.
Suddenly, realizing the absurdity of the situation, Danelle wasn’t angry anymore. A kind of
peace spread through her; she was prepared to die.
Not long afterwards, Danelle heard the sound of Bego’s ATV. At 3:38 pm, he found Danelle
alive, lying on her back. Next to her was Taz, his snout on her chest.
Danelle wept, saying that she was glad to see Bego. He was amazed that considering her
injuries, Danelle was still lucid. He quickly wrapped her in a sleeping bag, shoved her
hands into heavy gloves, and radioed the team that he had found her.
45 minutes later another rescuer arrived on the scene and soon after that, the chopper
arrived. Danelle was found at about 4,800 feet, in a rugged, slim canyon just in time.
Due to the weather and the rapidly fading light, the chopper had a very narrow of time
before it would be impossible for a rescue via airlift.
Danelle was choppered to the hospital. Taz was taken home for the night by the officer
in charge of the rescue, he didn’t think it was fair that Taz should go to the humane
shelter after his heroic effort. Danelle may have been finally rescued, but
her ordeal was far from over. Five foot, five inches (1.67 meter) tall Danelle weighed 120
pounds (54.4 kg) before the accident. In the hospital, they discovered that she had dropped
20 pounds (9 kgs) during her ordeal and lost ⅓ of her blood volume. Doctors told her
that most people would die in the first 24 hours sustaining similar injuries with that
much blood loss. Danelle was lucky to be alive, the only reason she was only able to survive
for 56 hours before rescue was because of her mental strength and amazing level of fitness.
Danelle underwent a risky six hour surgery. Doctors reconstructed her pelvis with a titanium
plate and a number of pins and screws. She also suffered from frostbite and had a number
of scrapes and cuts. Word began to get out about Danelle’s incredible
survival. However, she wasn’t really interested in talking to the media. Then the popular
morning news program, the Today Show made her an offer she couldn’t refuse; they wanted
to interview her with Taz. Danelle, who hadn't seen Taz since she was airlifted out of the
canyon several days before quickly agreed. Dabelle was wheeled down to the hospital lobby
and Taz was allowed in.. Danelle and Taz were delighted to be reunited. After the Today
Show finished shooting, Taz went home with Danelle’s sister. But he escaped, made his
way back to the hospital and tried to sneak in.
Accolades, cards and letters poured in for Taz and some for Danelle too. One fan even
sent Taz a Christmas present--in a box filled with dry ice were five pounds (2.26 kg) of
hormone-free aged rib steaks and a red-and-white Christmas stocking with a stuffed Santa inside.
Also, Taz received a couple of awards, including an award for his valor from the national Society
for the Ethical Treatment of Pets and the RSPCA national hero dog award.
Danelle stayed in the hospital for 15 days. Then she was in a wheelchair for several weeks
and underwent months of physical therapy. Moving slower but with plenty of determination,
soon Danelle and Taz were back to hiking on the trails around Moab. Some 5 months after
the accident, Danelle entered her first race. She walked more than she ran, but that was
only the beginning. Reflecting on her ordeal, Danelle isn’t
sure what to make of the voice that urged her to keep tapping during that second night.
She isn’t particularly religious. She said “As far as I’m concerned, I’m going
to be the best person I can…I’m okay without an answer.”
Today Danelle still competes in endurance events. She also coaches athletes and oversees
races. After a long and happy life, Taz passed away in the spring of 2019. He is sorely missed
by his friend Danelle. Do you think you could survive a fall in the
desert like Danelle did? Let us know in the comments! Also, be sure to check out our other
video I Was Trapped Underwater For 3 Days! Thanks for watching, and, as always, don’t
forget to like, share, and subscribe. See you next time!