And so I grabbed that rope and as soon as I realize I'm not
going to be able to, I just like, let go and let myself go
over the Cliff. And I just remember thinking
this might be it. I might die.
He was like Savannah's been in an accident and I don't have any
other details. You just need to get home.
All I know that she is a like a status Charlie at.
What point did you realize my life is completely changed?
Honestly, it's kind of crazy. I think I accepted it when I was
in the Canyon because I knew I was paralyzed and I told myself
I'm like I my future is going to be in a wheelchair.
Your Echo, like you're pretty much already dead.
Delta is like you're in really bad shape, probably not going to
make it. Charlie is like it's bad, worse
than a broken arm, but like they're OK, but it's still
pretty bad. I've got fusions so rods my
back, it's called T6 down to L4 which is 10 vertebrae.
So my whole back is basically used at this point.
You know you're paralyzed. Yeah.
Is there? How are you able to stay so
positive the time? Honestly, like what what you
don't know what life's going to look like.
You don't know the challenges yet in front of you.
I think that also helps, honestly.
Like, I have no idea what this is going to look like, but we'll
find out. So I.
Only know bits and pieces of your story.
I, I, I know, I want you to tell it how you want to tell it.
I don't want to be the one telling your story.
I think that's I want you to have the place, the platform to
be able to do that. But you're repelling.
Were you canyoneering? Canyoneering.
OK, yes, which I've done a few times, which is awesome, Yeah.
OK. It's the coolest.
Thing Where were you? Robert's Roofs.
In Utah. In Utah, yeah.
What park is that in? That's it's not like it's not
really in a park right outside of Canyonlands, OK.
And it's right in between Goblin Valley and Canyonlands and it's
BLM land and it's free. That's why it's very popular
'cause you can go do this LA Canyon.
It's super cool for for free. OK.
Yeah, yeah, Park or anything. Or like to have a spot there and
usually honestly we're the only ones there doing it, but I've
never seen another group there with us except for the day of my
accident. Really.
Wow. Yeah, and the day of my
accident, there's actually three groups, like two groups ahead of
us, which is kind of crazy. So take me through this day.
So it started how this all began.
Also, his family introduced me to Canyon area.
I didn't do it beforehand. He introduced me to all the cool
stuff. That's why I'm so cool now.
But his father-in-law is in charge of the youth group with
our church and our our section of the area always does all the
cool stuff because we always go canyoneering and other stuff
with our group. And so he decided that he wanted
to take other areas and go to canyoneering.
And so Seth and I have done had done Robber's Roost several
times together. At least twice a year since
we've been married. Yeah, and when we've taken other
groups before, we're always in charge of the second repel, so
it's just something we've been used to anyway.
What does that mean? The second repel.
So in Robber's Roost there are 4 repels, which means you hike and
then you go down the first repel, and then at that point
you're in the Canyon. And so you keep hiking and then
you get to the second repel and then you drop that Cliff and
then there's four of them. So you ended up dropping 4
cliffs by the time you're done, and then you hike back out and
go to the cars. And so that's what that looks
like. So my father-in-law asked both
of us if we would work the second repel.
Seth is going to be gone on a work trip and so I told him that
I would be happy to help with it.
And so there are 4 guides for the day, me being one of them,
one for each repel. So that day we get there to
Robbers Roost and like I said, we've never seen anybody else
there before and there's two groups ahead of us, which was
really odd, but. Big groups.
Like, yeah, pretty big groups. The one in front of us had
probably 14 people. In it.
Like the one right ahead of us and then the people before then.
I don't think there was many in that group though, the one ahead
of them. So there is quite a bit of a
hike to get there. And so we get down the first
repel and then I'm just hustling ahead of the group just so that
I can get the second repel set up.
Also, one of my family friends, Slash, the Barney's family
friend that they grew up with, he was going to be working the
second repel with me 'cause he's also done a lot of canyoneering
in the past. And so we get ahead of everyone.
And because there are groups ahead of us, we're having to
wait for the other group to get down the second repel before we
can set up our gear. So they get done finally and we
set up the second repel and I'm just going to take you through.
There are two types of anchors that you can have when
repelling. 1 is a bolted anchor and that's where you literally
bolt into the Canyon wall and then your anchors there.
The 1st 2 anchors of this Canyon, they are required to be
natural anchors, which a natural anchor is like you have to have
a wedged within a boulder or like a stack of rocks is on top
of the webbing and that's going to hold the, the anchor for you
or yeah, the anchor for you. So how it works with canineering
or repelling is you have this anchor, you connect your ropes
to this anchor and then you throw them over the edge.
And with this group of people, we had a lot of people there
that day. It was like honestly 40.
Of us were there that day. Yeah.
And so. It was really hectic.
It was really hectic, Yeah. I mean, it was fun, hectic
though, you know, I enjoyed. It excited, really fun, but
you're just like hey, don't get too close.
To the edge you've. Ever done this before?
Yeah, and a lot of people are really excited 'cause this is
their first time doing it, which I kind of didn't like, 'cause
I'm like, this ruined it for that.
They're gonna be so scared the rest of their life.
But really like anyway, so. We get all the ropes set up and
with rappelling 2, you have someone more experienced to go
down first. That way they know how to break
with their hand when going down. And the first person going down
becomes the belayer, which means all the new people, you know,
they'll freak out sometimes and let go of their break hand.
If that happens, you can pull on the rope at the bottom and it'll
stop them where they're at. And so the plan is our family
friend is going to go down first so that he can be at the bottom
to belay the the rest of the group that's going to go down.
And I'm going to be up top connecting everybody to their
bully devices. And so we get it all set up.
We throw the ropes over and in this specific repel, there is an
awkward part where you're you're going over the edge of the Cliff
and then you kind of just get thrown against the Canyon wall
because it dips under and the way it dips under.
You're going out kind of swinging in.
A little, yeah, you're going out.
There's like a cut under, so you're going to end up swinging
out. And it the way it is, it just
throws you against the rock naturally.
So he starts going over and he gets to the part where it throws
you to the wall. And at that point there was this
loud noise that came from the anchor that was there, and the
boulder that was holding the webbing in stood completely up.
The webbing to the anchor came out and beforehand too.
I connected myself to the anchor for safety.
Where are you right now? So I'm up top, I'm up top
watching him going down because I'm going to be the one reaching
over, pulling the rope. He's on his way down, but you're
getting ready to go down, so you're not connected.
Is that what I'm understanding? Well, I'm not getting ready to
go down because I'm going to connect all the kids to their to
the ropes so that they can go down.
And so I'm going to be up there the whole time getting everybody
down over the over the edge. So I connected myself to it for
safety since I'm going to be the one bending over the Cliff,
pulling up the ropes. And in case I fall over for
whatever reason, that safety, it's called a Daisy chain where
I connected myself to the anchor that will just hold me.
So I'm not like, fully falling over the Cliff.
So when that anchor came out, he fell.
And because I had connected myself to the anchor for safety,
I got catapulted over the Cliff with him.
Yeah. Wait.
Hold on, are you? Are you on the boulder that's
coming? Up.
I'm not on the boulder, I'm just standing like on the top of the
Cliff. So this boulder, I'm right here.
Here's the boulder. This boulder stands up like
this. The webbing comes out.
And so he's dropping because that whole webbing came out.
And because I connected myself to that rope, I get pulled over
like this. The boulder stands back down and
we both go over the Cliff. So just kind of a crazy freak
accident that just happened. And so my thoughts in the
moment, I remember hearing that loud noise and I knew what was
happening. I was like, this anchor is
coming out. And so it's crazy because people
say things happen in slow motion when something like that
happens. And it's so true.
I had so many thoughts within, like just a blink of an eye
pretty much. So that anchor comes out and I
remember grabbing onto my rope because for whatever reason, my
mind, I'm like, I can hold this up.
And so I grabbed that rope. And as soon as I realized I'm
not going to be able to, I just like let go and let myself go
over the Cliff. And I just remember thinking
this might be it. How high were you?
I might die. It was 30 feet.
Oh my. Gosh, so I mean, it's not the
tallest Cliff. Thankfully, he's like. 30 feet
is a pretty good distance. But it's still a pretty good
distance. Yeah, enough like.
And the Canyon walls are really skinny.
And so it's like in my head, I'm thinking like I could catapult
against the rock, like hit my head, get a brain injury and
die. I don't know.
There's just like so many thoughts going through it and I
just remember thinking this might be it.
You had those thoughts as this was happening, yes.
Oh my gosh, like, like I said, it was like I had a million
thoughts within just a blink of an eye.
And so I go over the edge and I remember looking and seeing the
ground and I closed my eyes before I hit the ground.
And I remember thinking when I closed my eyes, I'm like, OK,
I'm still thinking. So I'm going to open my eyes and
I'm either going to see Jesus or I'm going to see some dirt.
And in my mind too, I'm like, I'm not in any pain at the
moment. Like I knew there was an.
Afterlife, you know, like that's like what I'm thinking at this
point. And so I opened my eyes until my
relievement. I see Dirk 'cause I remember
thinking. I'm not ready to be gone though.
And so I open my eyes and I see dirt.
And I was really relieved. And so I was an X-ray tech at
the time. I'd seen a lot of accidents come
into the hospital. You know you.
I also have worked in the medical field since I was 18.
I talk with my hands a lot. Anyway.
And so I gave myself some concussion questions.
I'm like, is my head OK? Like, did I hit it on anything?
So I was like, OK, I'm Savannah Barney are.
You in pain? At the moment, no.
I'm like, I'm Savannah Barney. I'm at Robert's Roost.
It's probably about 1:00 PM right now.
I just went over a Cliff and I'm like, OK.
I'm thinking like I, I think I'm good that way.
And so then I'm laying also I landed face down.
So I'm looking at the dirt and so I like my arms are out like
this. And I just remember like, OK,
did I break any bones? And so I start moving my arms.
Nothing hurts. And so I was like, wow, I I
think I'm good. And so I went to go stand up and
I pushed my body up. And at that point, I realized my
legs weren't following me. And so I laid myself back down
and I was like, I think I'm paralyzed.
You knew. Yeah, I knew.
And so I I remember I like touched my side as I'm like
facing down and like started running my hand down my body and
I'm like feeling like something but I can't tell that it's me.
And so I didn't, I couldn't feel anymore either.
And so I remember, even like you.
Have no feeling in your? Legs.
I have no feeling in my legs. Yeah.
And so I remember, like, tapping myself.
And I was like, am I touching me or am I touching something else?
And so I, like, ran my finger down again.
I'm like, it's definitely me. And I can't tell that it's me.
And so I knew I was paralyzed. And then I think to myself, OK,
my friend Bronson just fell with me as well.
And so I reached out and I grabbed his hand and I was like,
Bronson, how are you doing? And he told me I'm doing pretty
good, but I think I broke my wrist.
And he holds up his wrist. And I don't know if you've seen
Harry Potter where his arm is like an S His hand looked like
that. And I was like, oh, you
definitely broke your wrist, Bronson.
Yeah. And he's like, how are you
doing? I told him I'm doing pretty good
but I can't feel my legs and we need to get life light here.
They're not moving. How far did he fall?
He was not much like 25 feet, so he wasn't much different than I
was. And the way he fell was
different than how I felt because he is coming down like
this. So he fell pretty vertically and
he landed on his back and also like his wrist out obviously as
well. But he had a water bladder in
his backpack, and that water bladder kind of caught his fall
a little bit for him, which was like really such a blessing.
Yeah, he still had a couple broken vertebrae.
Yeah, he tracked a couple vertebrae as well, and so he was
in a back brace for a few weeks afterwards.
But yeah. And then tell him about your
front flip. Yeah, And then I I front flipped
over the Cliff and so I remember going over, I blacked out for a
second and so how I fell is I landed face first actually like
this. And then my body followed and it
was that scorpion motion at high end.
Did you hit your head? Yeah, I did.
Like landed on your head. I landed on my face.
Like you can see, I haven't watched the video.
But. There's a video, There's a video
of it. Oh man.
Yeah, I haven't seen it, but there's a.
Video and I I landed face first. Who was videoing?
One of the guys, one of my friends who was up top, it was
his first time doing it, so he just wanted to take a video to
like for memories. Like it was my first time
repelling. Let's take a video of this.
And so there's a video of the whole thing happening.
Oh my gosh, yeah. Neither of us have seen this
video, by the way. Yeah, but parents have and
anyway, so I landed face 1st and I scorpioned it.
That's what broke my back. So Bronson calls up and he lets
them know we need to get life flight here.
And in that moment, I am a religious person and so is my
friend Bronson. And I just asked him if I could
have a blessing because I knew that I just like I need some
help. And he gave me a blessing.
And I just remember thinking back on a blessing that I had
previously that just talks about me having a life with children
and like having a happy life with the family pretty much.
And I was like, OK, I'm not going to die.
And so I just thought about that.
And I was like, I think I'm good.
And I felt so much peace in that moment as well.
After that, too, is when a lot of other miracles started to
happen. So as I had mentioned, there was
a group in front of us that day, and there were two people left
who had not gone down. The third repel, which was like,
right. The second and third repel are
really close to each other. And so these two people, they
run back to me. And they were the guides and the
group that was in front of us. And both of them just happened
to be wilderness EMTs. Yeah.
And so they come up to me and at this point to my chest starts
feeling super heavy, like I feel like a £500 person is sitting on
my chest. And so it's getting hard for me
to breathe a little bit as well. So they come up and I remember
them asking me, do you feel this?
Do you feel this? And I was like, are you touching
me right now? And they're like, yes, I'm like,
I don't feel it then. And so they're like going up my
body. Do you feel this?
And they cut my harness off and
I remember one of them lift up my shirt a little bit and I had
this hump in my back from my spine sticking out.
And he, I think he was trying to keep me calm because I remember
him whispering like, OK, I need you guys to look at this to
like, see how serious this is. And I was like, I know I broke
my back. I'm paralyzed.
And so anyway, he puts my shirt back down.
And I like I said, my chest was feeling so heavy at that point.
And so I asked them if they could log roll me up against the
Canyon wall. That way I'm not laying on my
chest to hopefully help me breathe.
And so they log roll me against the wall, which did help because
I'm no longer inhaling dirt too because I'm face down and but my
chest was still feeling so heavy.
And just later on, I did find out that I had broken several
ribs and they punctured both of my lungs.
And so my lungs were filling with fluid and blood at that
point. And that's what the heaviness of
my chest was. So they were able to get to me.
And there's also no phone service at this point either in
the screen. And so there was the iPhone 15
had just come out at that point and the iPhone 15 has a
satellite phone like a satellite feature part of it.
And so they were able to text life flight OK and let them know
that we they need to get there. How?
Long did that take for them to get there. 3 1/2 hours, yeah.
Yeah, that's actually pretty good.
Yeah, it was pretty good. To be to be in communication
with, you know, emergency services within minutes of her
having, you know, having fallen is also pretty amazing
considering they're in a pretty remote area of Utah in a slot
Canyon to get to her from a helicopter is going to be, I
mean, the Hoyer lift was a couple 100 feet long.
And so shout out to the, you know, medical services of the
world. It's amazing that she could have
that accident and be in communication and life lighted
out of that remote area within, you know, under 4 hours is
pretty awesome. Yeah, it's pretty amazing.
So then also at that point there was a nurse that was in our
group who got lowered down to me as well.
And while we're waiting for live flight, she's like sitting there
and holding my hand and she starts like asking me questions.
I can tell she's trying to keep me awake and like just alert as
well. So she's asking me questions and
my chest just keeps getting heavier and heavier.
And I remember at one point I was like, Mindy, I love your
questions, but can we do yes or no questions because.
Like I'm running out of breath here.
I'm like I'm having a hard time answering you.
You're in all this pain and you're still polite.
Yeah, she yeah. And so she just starts asking me
yes or no questions. And at this point, I remember
hearing helicopters arrive and this is probably like an hour
and a half after my accident. And so I hear helicopters arrive
and you know, you, you hear them fly over and you get like a
they're, they're, they're going to get me.
But then they fly back and the noise stops and then they fly
over and then they fly back. And I just like every time I
would be so excited that they were there and then they'd go
away, then they'd come and then they'd go away.
And it turns out they, the helicopters had shown up.
They didn't realize the situation, how severe it was,
and they didn't have a Hoyer lift on their helicopter, so
they had to call another helicopter to get them there.
And when the other helicopter got there, they hadn't really
located me yet at the time either.
And so the only reason that they knew that they had to get
another like this Hoyer lift helicopter is by talking to
people who had been there with me when I went over the Cliff.
Because at that point, the whole group had been able to climb
back out of the Canyon and started going over to.
Who's left? Who's left with me is my friend
Bronson, the nurse, Mindy, and one of the EMTs.
The other one had left to keep going down with his group that
they had brought with them. They kept repelling.
They kept going down repelling, yeah.
Bunch of new people. No, like, I mean, yes, they the
group that they had with them. So it was probably like 10 other
people did keep going and repelling 'cause they had been
down the third repeal at that. Point, my gosh, what do you
think the fear level of them would have been at that?
Point Yeah, I do have a story about that later too, so.
But her just to clarify the the the entire group that was with
her, because she was technically second, but first and second
were down. She felt the entire group ahead
of them were able to hike out of the first repel and just go out
of the Canyon backwards. So they didn't finish the
Canyon. The group ahead of her was were
the people that. Finished the Canyon.
How long did it take that second helicopter to get there?
I mean, you hear the you hear the helicopter.
It's gone. Yeah.
What? What's the time frame?
So between that first helicopter getting there and that second
one was probably about another 45 minutes.
And then they hadn't really located me yet.
And so then I hear more flybys. So a helicopter comes and then
it goes, and then it comes, then it goes.
At this point I'm like, are they going?
To like, ever get to me at this point?
But I remember I was closing my eyes because at this point I'm
really just focusing on breathing.
I'm like, OK, breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe
out. And I remember this other flyby
happens. And every time a flyby would
happen, like some rocks would get thrown into the Canyon
because like of the wind of the helicopter.
And so every time that would happen, this sweet nurse would
like lean over my face to cover. It from.
The rocks hitting me in the face.
And so this flyby happens and then this nurse looks me in the
eyes and she's like, they're here.
And I just remember like that relievement feeling.
And I was like, I'm going to be OK, I'm going to make it.
And so this guy that got lowered down to me, he brings over, it's
called the basket. And basically it's just a
sleeping bag that like gets wrapped around you and there's a
backboard underneath it. And so he brings that up.
And I remember this is like the first time I felt pain in my
back because they had to roll me onto this hard back surface in
this sleeping bag basket. And I remember like my back just
hurts so bad because I had that hump in my back.
So you're on your back, You're not like on your stomach on this
thing. Right, yeah, I'm on my back on
this thing. So they they rolled me from
being up against the wall like this to being on this basket.
And I was like, that hurt. But I'm like, but I'm warm now
because being down there for that long, there's no sun
hitting down there and it gets pretty cold.
So they get me in this basket and I remember feeling warm and
then they bring me up out of the Canyon and I was like, I just
hit my deductible is. That what you were thinking?
Really. Literally.
And I told him that. I told him that I was like,
there goes my deductible. They put me in that basket and
that got a that covered it. And so they pulled me out of the
Canyon and I they set me down on the ground next to these two
helicopters are that are there. So at this point it took three
helicopters to get to Savannah cause the first one came and
they started locating her and realized we don't have a Hoyer
lift. And then the second one with a
big Hoyer lift came and then they brought like the Speed Life
Flight helicopter there. So the one that lifted her out
and dropped her down and the one that took her from the Canyon
over to the hospital were two different helicopters.
Oh wow. Yeah.
So lots of money there. What hospital did you end up at?
Utah Valley Hospital, which is in Provo, Provo, UT.
So they sent me down and they're assessing me.
They have like this portable ultrasound where they're
checking my lungs and organs and they're like, kidney looks good,
liver looks good. And anyway, I remember them
saying that they can't find my pulse and I'm completely like
awake and aware. And what had happened is I had
internal bleeding from my back breaking, and so my pulse had
become really weak and they couldn't even find it.
And I'm like, well, I'm alive. I'm talking with you.
Like I think I'm. Fine.
And so at this. Point I'm pretty much ready to
be sent to the hospital and they there was like this little
kerfuffle going on between the medical staff because the basket
that I got put into came from Bridgefield, Utah.
And live flight, if it comes from that place, they have to
keep it at that place. And so they're like we ought to
take her to Richfield Hospital and then we can fly her to
whatever hospital we need to. And there was this nurse there,
her name's Heather and she is just a boss lady.
And I remember her looking at these like 5 men who are having
a fight over where I'm going to be sent at the moment and she
was like I don't care who I have to talk to, she's going to Utah
Valley. If there anyone who has a
problem they can talk to with me.
And I was like, thank you, Heather.
Yeah, It was pretty awesome. I was like, girl power right
there. I love it.
And. So they, they also put, I think
I was on fentanyl too. They I finally got drugs.
So I was feeling good. I'm like, let's go.
I'm ready. And so they get me in the
helicopter, and it's a really tight space.
There's the pilot of the helicopter, and then there's me.
And I'm still in this basket. And then two people behind me
and we're flying there, and I start feeling nauseated.
And pretty sure it's from the medication.
And I have this oxygen mask on my face.
And I remember looking over at them like trying to tell them
like I need to throw up. Like I'm going to throw up and
they the helicopter's going so they can't hear me.
And so I finally I just take the mask off.
I turn my head and I throw up and I got it like in my hair.
Like my Oh my whole hair. Was just like.
Soaked and throw up at this point and this cute little EMT
behind me is like sucking the throw up out of my hair as we're
on the way to the hospital. I was like, thanks.
And so it happened again and I was like, like making this
motion with my yeah. And they're like, oh, oh.
And so they finally got her bag the second time and then I was
able to throw open the bag but. So we get to the hospital and
they're getting me to the emergency department.
And I remember thinking, because I know I'm on drugs and I'm
like, nobody knows that I've had this accident because we didn't
have any service. And so I'm trying to be like,
OK, this is my mom's number. And I like repeated that number
in my head. And I'm like, and this is my
dad's number. And I repeated his number.
I'm like, OK, I like, I still remember, even though I'm on
drugs, like I got this. I can, I can tell him what
number to call, you know? And so I get there in the
hospital and these nurses come in and they let me know like, I
have family there and my whole, his entire family was in the
hospital waiting for me, as was my mom.
Yeah, it was incredible. And they're like, but we got to
get chest tubes in you ASAP. So what do you want to do?
And I was like, is it OK if I just talk to the moms for a
second? Just let them know I'm OK?
And so they get the moms in there and.
My mom's just like sobbing. His mom doesn't really know how
to cry. So she's just like standing
there staring at me and I was like, guys, I'm OK, like I'm
here, don't worry about it. And my mom looked at them and
she was because they took X-rays of my back and she's like, is
that her back? My mom also has medical field
background and they told her yes.
And so then she starts crying more because I think she
understood too, that there's not really a chance that I'm going
to walk again. I was like, mom, it's OK, it's
OK. And so they let the moms leave
and they tell me that I'm going to be put under on ketamine and
get my chest tubes in. So I hear about these ketamine
treatments for like different things like depression.
And I'm like, I don't know what ketamine does for that, 'cause
when I was under ketamine I was dreaming of Blue Shrek and like.
Like having those time of my life in his swamp with a bunch
of people that looked like blue Shreks and I wake up from this
and I've got chest tubes in. And so after that, I remember,
'cause I had, I had worked as an X-ray tech in the OR at this
hospital. And I know of the neurosurgeons
there, I've been in the OR rooms with them.
And there's one in particular who was just known for being the
best at his job. He's just a perfectionist.
He's 70 years old. He like has like a Santa beard
and stuff. And I really liked him in the
OR. And so he is.
He does have seniority at that hospital, though.
And so I don't think he's on call very much.
And I just remember thinking, his name's Doctor Reichman.
And I was like, please be Doctor Reichman.
Please be Doctor Reichman here. And I remember they're like,
we're going to get the surgeon here.
And I was like, who is it? But it's Doctor Reichman.
And I just remember having such relievement.
I'm like I get the best. So I was really stoked about
that as well. And so the next 10 days I'm in
the ICU, I'm on a lot of drugs. I have three different surgeries
that happened. The first one they just fixed my
back and aligned it back up. And he did it in three different
surgeries because I had so much, I was losing so much blood
during the surgery cause of all the internal bleeding.
And so he fixes my back. And then what they ended up
doing is my T9, which is the vertebrae that damaged my spinal
cord. It was complete mush, like it
wasn't even there anymore. And So what they ended up doing
is they put what's called a cage in my back.
So they took a rib out of me and they did a bone graft.
Is that what it's called? The bone graft?
And then they created a new vertebrae for my back.
Yeah. And then they, like, put a cage
around it. And so you can actually feel it
in my back now because it kind of sticks out a little bit.
But I also made the joke when they said they were taking a rib
out. I was like, so you're going to
Adam and Eve? Me.
Taking my rib out. So yeah, now I'm missing a rib
and I've got fusions, so rods my back.
It's called T6 down to L4, which is 10 vertebrae.
So my whole back is basically fused at this point.
So I was in the ICU for 10 days. I remember having a lot of
visitors and like I said, I was on a lot of drugs.
And so I'd talk to them, and the middle of my sentences I would
fall asleep. Oh wow.
I'd be talking with them and then I'd fall asleep.
Then I'd wake back up and keep continue talking.
It was so odd and really funny. But do you want to tell your
story of hearing of my accident and getting to me?
Yeah, but where do you, do you have any?
I guess do you have any? Questions.
Do you have any? Questions.
Yeah, I mean, just like. Went through all of.
It Yeah, I just thought I. I want to know, I just want to
know like, you know, you're paralyzed.
Yeah. Is there how how are you able to
stay so positive in the time that we've, you know, you're,
you're you're in the hospital right now, right?
They're doing surgeries on you. When did it?
At what point did you realize my life has completely changed?
And what? How were you able to accept
that? I think honestly, it's kind of
crazy. I think I accepted it when I was
in the Canyon because I knew I was paralyzed and I told myself,
I'm like, I my future's going to be in a wheelchair.
And I remember thinking, I don't know what that looks like for
me, but I know I'm going to be OK and I'll make I'll make the
best of it. And I don't honestly, I think
like by the grace of God. I was positive.
About the whole thing, Yeah. And so, yeah.
And honestly, like, what? What?
You don't know what life's going to look like.
You don't know the challenges yet in front of you.
I think that also helps, honestly.
Like, I have no idea what this is going to look like, but we'll
find out. And yeah, I honestly, I guess I
am. I known to be a pretty positive
person. And so I think that's.
Just my nature too. That's just how I am.
But honestly, if I had, if I had known how hard it was going to
be, I think I would have had a harder time accepting it because
it is the most challenging thing I've ever done is to be in a
wheelchair. Because there are so many
challenges that come with it that you don't even think about.
Because a lot of people when they see people in wheelchairs,
they just think, oh, she just can't walk.
You know, they don't see all the secondary things that come with
it because there are a lot of secondary things.
Like what? For example, I get a lot of
nerve pain, and nerve pain is the worst pain I've ever felt.
It's not like getting my ribs and lungs and back smashed in
the Canyon. It's doesn't even compare to how
nerve pain feels. It's like stabbing lightning
strikes and where it happens is like right around my paralysis
level, which is about two inches above my belly button.
So I don't feel anything from here down.
So that paralysis level, it feels like a belt that is
wrapped around my abdomen right there and it's just like
shooting pains. And so that has been one of my
biggest challenges. At first I didn't have any nerve
pain, and then about two months is in.
Honestly, that even started happening in the hospital a
little bit. So about three weeks after my
accidents when it started happening.
And it's been the hardest thing to try to control.
We've tried lots of different medications, different doses,
and I think what I'm on right now is probably the best it's
been in a really long time. But I've had nights where I
can't even sleep, and I don't sleep because the pain is so
bad. And so that's one of the
secondary things that can come with paralysis.
Yeah. Another thing is muscle spasms.
Not everyone gets them, but I get them.
And what that is, is my legs still move.
They just don't move voluntarily.
And so my legs will squeeze together really, really tight.
Like I have constant bruises on the inside of my knees.
Do you know when that's happening?
Yeah, like and I can feel it because it it moves my body when
it happens. I also have my right leg
especially is the worst. It'll bounce like I sound like
Thumper from Bambi. It's just, and so that will
happen when I'm trying to like change my clothes or if I lean
back in my wheelchair. I can probably show you after
this my leg will just straighten straight out and it is so hard
to bend it back so I'm just like stuck in like this bored
position. You don't have control, so you
can't bend it back. Yeah.
And like I can like I'll grab my wheelchair wheels and I'll like
pull really hard to like get my body back forward because once
my hip bends, typically my knee will bend again.
And so it's just like I get into this rigor mortis pretty much.
And it's hard to bend my leg again.
And so that's been, it's been really hard because it makes my
transfers hard like getting in and out of bed, getting on and
off the toilet. Anytime I try to move myself to
a different place or. Getting out of your car is a
big. One, yeah, getting out of my
car. The biggest one and the kind of
bummer with it is I can no longer get myself from the floor
back into my wheelchair because every time I try to get myself
up, I how I get up is I kneel in front of my wheelchair.
So I get myself in a kneeling position and I'm facing my
wheelchair. And then from there I push up
and my hips will usually come up above my seat and then I flip
myself around so that I can sit down.
Right now though, this is a new thing that's happened within the
last like month and a half too. This is something new for me.
My spasms have gotten so bad that when I go to push myself
up, my knees tuck under my wheelchair so I can no longer
get my hips above my seat. And I've tried like usually I
feel like I can just like force myself to do things with enough
strength. And no matter how hard I try, I
cannot get myself back in my wheelchair anymore.
Which I'm hoping to figure that out or try to figure out a new
way to get back into my wheelchair from the floor
because that just kind of makes things hard.
Like being alone by myself becomes more of a challenge.
I don't have a usually I don't end up on the floor.
It's very rare that that would happen, but it has happened
since I haven't been able to get back in my wheelchair by myself
and I ended up on my floor in my house for an hour and a half.
Oh man. And I tried so many times to get
back in my chair that I ended up with bloody knuckles trying to
do it. And I eventually just called my
neighbor and had her come help me back into my chair.
Is there a pride thing that comes into play with?
That kind of stuff, too, specifically with Savannah.
Yeah, it's definitely. Are you stubborn?
Yeah, OK. Yeah, I mean, that's not a bad
thing. I don't like asking for help.
Unless it's from Zach. With him I'm like, yes, help me
but. Yeah, I don't like asking for
help. That that's definitely one of
the more humbling things that has come with this experience is
especially at the beginning, I didn't know how to do anything
by myself. I was totally dependent.
I didn't know how to go to the bathroom.
Here's another thing that comes with paralysis is you can no
longer tell when you need to go to the bathroom.
You don't have like the urge to, to go #1 or #2 anymore.
And so you just time it like I just go every five or six hours
is when I decided to go to the bathroom and I can't release my
pee anymore either by myself. I have to use a catheter every
time just because that's one of the things which if you do need
to go to the bathroom and it's you don't know that you need to
go to the bathroom. You can also have accidents.
And so it doesn't happen super often with me, but it does
happen. And so that's another secondary
thing that comes with it, which is a bummer.
When it does happen, but. Yeah, I'm trying to think what
what else would be a secondary just.
So treat the bowel program, muscle spasms, nerve pain.
If you weren't doing those three things, it would be a heck of a
lot easier. Yeah, I wish it was just not
walking like that would be. Yeah.
It's the other things that come with it that are the hardest
things to accept. So you get a phone call.
Where were you? So I was in Monterey, CA at the
sea Otter classic just for a work trip and we're working at
the bike show. Sea Otter is a big bike show and
we just finished working and we were at dinner and I get a phone
call from my brother-in-law who's a Highway Patrol man in in
Utah and they were like this is weird.
He never calls me so like I'm just going to take it.
Otherwise, if it was like a other like my brother and my
dad, I probably would have just like.
Let it go to voice and like you know.
I'm at I'm at dinner like getting to know new people and
and whatever. So I take this phone call and.
Were were you, how long you been married?
Right, Yeah. How long have you been married?
Sorry, I just want to Were you married at the time?
Yes, we were married at the time and at that point we were
married three years. Like 2 1/2 years, OK or three
years, yeah. Three years.
We've been married about 3 1/2 years.
Yeah. Play this phone call.
And I'm actually really glad that it was my brother-in-law
who called me because he's a higher patrolman.
And he was very just kind of like to the point about it not
beating around the Bush. So he's like, hey, are you in a
spot to talk? And I was like, yeah, sure.
And he was like, Savannah's been in an accident.
And I don't have any other details.
You just need to get home. All I know is that she's a like
a status Charlie. So there's there's Bravo CDE, if
you're echo like you're pretty much already dead.
Delta is like you're in really bad shape.
Probably not going to make it. Charlie is like it's bad, worse
than a broken arm, but like they're OK.
But it's still pretty bad. So that's all I knew.
All I knew was that she was a Charlie status.
She was in an accident in the in the Canyon.
She's getting life flighted. That's all I knew.
And I had to get home. And so my Co worker drove me to
San Jose airport and the only connection at the time was I had
to fly from Monterey, CA all the way to Dallas, TX and then from
Dallas, TX to Salt Lake City. And I didn't get to Savannah
till like 10:00 AM on Sunday morning.
Oh man. And honestly I don't know it was
I I left at like 9. I finally was on a plane at 9:00
PM and then I got home at about 8:00.
So I was between the layovers and everything is like 11 hours.
Yeah. Sitting in an airport for six
hours not being able to do anything while you know your
wives and surgery is, is just one of the worst feelings ever.
Who are you talking to? I was to well, so I talked to my
brother-in-law and so my dad was there when the accident
happened. And as we were driving from
Monterey over to the San Jose airport, I called him and I knew
that at this point, my dad, I, I knew he was going to be feeling
pretty just responsible because he's the one who invited
Savannah. And, you know, calling your son,
telling your to having, having just had his wife fall off the
Cliff and be in this scenario is, is pretty rough.
But I remember just telling him that I'm grateful that he was
there. And yeah, honestly, at that
point, he had to get home because he's trying to, he, he
didn't get to fly. So he was trying to drive to get
to the hospital to go see Savannah because he hadn't seen
her since she got pulled out of the Canyon.
And then he and the other three people that had stayed still had
to hike out of the Canyon and get out before dark to get in
the cars and drive home. So he's, he had a lot going on
after the the accident happened. He still had a lot of work to
do. So I get to the airport and I
get on the plane and right as I was getting there, the, a
different flight had been delayed that was going to
Colorado, Denver instead of Dallas.
And I walked up to the to the gate and this flight is like is
boring. People are walking on and I just
go up to the lady at that frontier and I was like, hey,
here's my situation. My wife was just in an accident.
If I could switch my flight so I can lay over in Denver instead
of lay over in Dallas, that would be awesome.
She didn't say a word. She just typed on her computer,
hit enter, hand me my boarding pass instead of get on the plane
didn't even say anything. She was so and I was kind of
like ready. I was like kind of ready to like
fight a little bit like come on, please.
Like this is super unique scenario.
You're ready to throw down in the airport and.
And it was, it was so nice and smooth.
So I like, I walked in the airport, went through security,
ran to my gate, talked like that Lady got on the plane.
Shortest airport experience of my life.
I was probably in like from walking into the airport to
getting on the plane was probably 10 minutes.
So then that was nice because I did save a little bit of time
and I was late over in Denver and in the Denver airport.
I tried to sleep, but I was also stressed about missing my flight
and, you know, oxygen for everything that's going on.
So I, I talked to my twin brother and I talked to my dad,
talked to my mom. And I just tried to honestly, I
wasn't really even like thinking I was just kind of in, in like,
you know, the flight or fight mode.
I think I was just in flight mode and I hadn't eaten anything
since like 2:00 PM that day because when we were at dinner,
our food hadn't come yet. I got the phone call and we
left. And so I remember just, like,
being shaky and I remember, like, forcing myself to eat.
And the only thing open at 2:00 AM at the Denver airport is
McDonald's. So I was eating like these two
little cheeseburgers just trying to, like, get some sustenance in
me. I don't.
Know that sounds like a pretty good meal to.
Me, yeah, seems. Pretty gourmet.
Yeah. Yeah, a little bougie here.
But then got on my flight from Denver to Salt Lake City.
Got to Salt Lake City about 9:30 AM, and my family picked me up.
My twin brother, my older brother, my sister.
And at this point I didn't know any details, right?
All I knew was that Santa status, Charlie, she got life
flighted and I just wasn't even asking any questions.
I was just trying to get to Savannah.
And so we get to the hospital and I see Savannah and I
remember just being just relieved to see her and happy to
see her. And I didn't even ask any
questions. I just remember being excited to
see my wife. So that was on Sunday and I
didn't know that Savannah was paralyzed till Tuesday.
Like, I was just so happy to be with Savannah and like the
doctors are coming in and like, talking about like, did they?
Assume that you knew. How did you?
I don't understand that. I guess when the doctors were,
well, I, I missed a couple of the doctor's visits because I've
been awake for a while. Nobody told you.
So I like went to the waiting room and like.
Everyone just assumed. And everyone.
Everybody just assumed that you knew, so they're just like he's
got to know. Yeah.
And like, I knew that she couldn't feel, but I'm thinking
like, oh, she's going to get sensation back in a couple days
and it'll be fine. And I guess I don't know.
I just, I didn't. I wasn't.
I was processing it kind of weird.
But anyway, Tuesday comes along and then I see Doctor Reichman
for the first time. Because the other two times he'd
come, I had been asleep on the couch or like, outside.
I'll sleep. Because again, I hadn't, I had
been awake for like a little over 24 hours.
And when he told me that she was paralyzed, I guess I don't know.
Did he tell you like you are? Like he thought you already
knew? Was it just in conversation?
No, I think I candidly asked him.
I was like, so Doctor Reichman, like, can you just kind of like
tell me is, is she going to walk again?
Is she going to get sensation back?
And I really appreciated his response because he was very
like, I don't want to give you no hope because you know,
miracles can happen. But based off of what I know and
how Pinterest spinal cord was, because if you saw her X-ray, if
this is like her two vertebrae, they were like crossed and
overlapped and her her spinal cord did like a full Z and
people get paralyzed from a lot less than that.
People just bruise their spinal cord and it wasn't even shifted.
They just bruise it and they're paralyzed for life.
And hers was like, really bad. And he was like, I would just
kind of expect and be ready to do, you know, life in a
wheelchair. And at that point, I was like,
OK. And honestly, I don't, I don't
think I ever grieved. I don't think I ever 'cause I
mean, you've Savannah's just such a positive person and she
was just such like a go get him attitude.
This is a new life. I'm going to relearn how to do
all these things. I kind of feel like if you had
grieved, she would have probably slapped you upside the head.
Is that kind of? How it works, right?
Yeah, yeah, yeah. A.
Little bit like, come on. Yeah, we're good.
Yeah, which honestly, it's still kind of is that way.
Like, yeah, I think we have our moments of being sad and
grieving, but from then on, honestly, I had just in the
hospital. I remember she got out of her
second surgery. Can I tell this story?
Yeah, you can. Oh, Seth is really like a go get
him. Like he realized my life was
going to be different and he wanted to make sure that I was
going to have fun in this new life.
I remember coming out of my second surgery and I'm still
like coming out of anesthesia and he shoves his phone in my.
Face of like a paralyzed person on this four Wheeler and he's
like look what we can get you and I was like.
He's getting excited. Fairly even there.
Because you're a builder. I mean, you're a mechanical guy,
right? Yeah.
You like to tinker in the garage or is it like, or is it like, is
this like extra level tinkering in the garage?
Are you the guy that's got like 8 welding machines and lifts for
engines and all the stuff and every toy you can imagine
sitting there ready to just turn into something else?
I've, I've always been very mechanical and handy, but but
the level of handiness and problem solving is definitely
exponentially gotten bigger. And since then, my dad's shop
has gotten very like fabrication level.
We have like welders, we have a welder and we have like all the
tools we need to do a lot of fun stuff.
We're getting a plasma cutter soon.
And so I don't know, I just like, since this has happened,
I'm also just kind of like a, if it's going to get done right, I
need to do it. There's a lot of amazing
technology out there, but I think I, I just, I have these
expectations of what I want Savannah to be able to do.
And in the only way that she can do some of these things is just
by like me, me building it. And the one thing that I really
want to be able to do was to ride on two wheels again.
And so that's when I like built her Suron out and I put the the
roll cage on and everything so she could still ride on two
wheels, ride on the Suron, come out with the family and ride,
which is just a big part of my family.
I actually bought Savannah a dirt bike before I bought her a
wedding ring. So that's like one of the
primaries. Live dirt bikes is a really big
part of my family. Were you like, OK with this or
was it, or was there like an extra dirt bike in the
background that he'd already bought for himself so he could
buy you one, I mean. I mean it.
I remember him buying me a dirt bike and I was like oh wow, this
is serious. Yeah, that was really the first
proposal. The ring was more of a
formality, the first proposal. Was like the dirt bike.
Here's your motorcycle. And I he remembers this very
differently than I do, but he told me there were Barney
auditions. My last name's Barney, which is.
Yeah. Which his family does, like
mountain biking, dirt biking, canyoneering.
And so in my head I'm thinking like.
I've got to be good at these things or I'm cut out, You know,
like I want to marry this man, but I don't know if I'm going to
pass these Barney auditions. And so the first time I went out
dirt biking with his family, I was so like, I've got to, I've
got to impress them. I jumped the dirt bike my first
time ever, like being out and on it.
I was, they're jumping this, they built this jump and him and
his twin and my sister-in-law were jumping this, this hill.
And I was like. I could do it.
I'm. Going to do it.
Let's go. And so I'm like building up the
courage. This is the funniest part.
I'm building up the courage to do.
It so I say I jumped. This thing, I'm like thinking
I'm going so fast, I'm going so good.
And then here's my jump. And I was like, heck yeah.
The coolest Both wheels came off the ground.
Yeah, both wheels came off, but like maybe 2 inches?
That's great. Yeah, I eventually got better at
jumping a dirt bike, but yeah, I remember building up so much
courage and I was like. So so is your goal like to make
her life as like you're trying to make it you you want to get
her out of the wheelchair. You're right.
You want to get her mobile, You want to put her on dirt bikes.
And is that kind of what the how you're feeling about all this?
I just think I honestly like, I think my ADHD too really, really
plays a part in this where I'm just kind of like, I want her to
be a part of everything that we're doing.
And I don't want her to feel like she can't participate in
certain activities because she's in the wheelchair.
And so I'm just like, we just have to adapt whatever so that
she can come and do it. And there are so many different
things out there that are that are available.
One of the really big inspirations and he actually
lives right next to me. His name is Jerry Rig.
Everything you've probably heard of him, his name Zach, his
wife's in a wheelchair and he built something called the big
rig where it originally started as he welded 2 electric mile
bikes together and built this thing so his wife could come and
and hike and do all these things.
And so I think seeing him kind of innovate and build these
things, I thought, well, if he can do it, then I can do it.
I have, you know, got some skills and we could, we could
build some fun things. And so I don't know, I just
think I set these kind of like unspoken expectations of
Savannah still going to come dirt bike with us.
She's still going to come hunting.
She's still going to come skiing and water water skiing.
Like she's she's water skied. We're working on making her a
little surfboard so she can surf behind the boat.
And she really can, she really can do a lot.
There's like a lot, honestly, that she can't do.
And as long as we have the right equipment, Savannah can do
anything she wants. And so I just want to be able to
provide whatever that is so she can come or participate in
whatever adventure she wants to participate in.
So like for scuba diving? Yeah.
We've been to Hawaii, we've been to Mexico.
She skis, she mountain bikes, she dirt bikes.
The only thing we haven't done like hobby wise since her
accident is Canyon Earring, OK. Everything else we've we've for
sure done. Is that on the list or are you
not? I feel like canyoneering in
itself would be a little hard because I feel like I'd have to
be carried a lot of the way. A lot of things are skinny, a
lot of things have like boulders and rocks that you got to climb
over. But I for sure think I'd go
repelling again. OK.
That was my question. I was wondering if it was maybe
the, you know, you just don't want to cross that road.
Yeah, no, I think, I think I would totally do it again.
We just need to. There's actually like a
repelling. There is an adaptive repelling
and climbing club, yeah, in Utah at the Momentum.
Yeah, one of the climbing gyms that she could go and we just
haven't gone yet and. Honestly I think the only reason
I haven't gone is I also work so you.
So I'm guessing you haven't been back to where it's happened.
No, I haven't. You can't get to it.
Yeah, I think we could maybe get to it.
It'd be it'd be hard though. And honestly?
Get back to it. I think, I think.
Me and my brothers and my dad and the guy who fell with
Savannah Bronson, that we will probably, we'll probably go back
there eventually just as a like a memorandum of like where it
happened. But I don't know, honestly, it
hasn't been that important to me to be back there just because
we're kind of moved on. And if rappelling was something
she could do, I think we would have been back already.
But now that I'm just so focused on doing things she can do, it's
just kind of not in frame of mind anymore because I'm just
focused on all the things that she she can't do.
Yeah, not high priority. Yeah, do it.
Unless we build like some robot climbing machine that can like
scale walls and slaw Canyon, then we'll go do it.
Yeah. I think you could do it.
You got. We can build it, yeah.
Do you, do you have moments of like why or if I could only do
this again? Or I mean, are there down times
for you? Yeah, there are for sure.
I'd say they don't happen super often, but I did have one
recently and I feel like it's really the little things, like
the feeling of what it feels like to put pressure on your
feet or like to walk around the house and get some bread crumbs
and brush them off your feet and know that they're there.
Like the feeling of putting your sock on and your shoe on, the
feeling of being at the beach and having your toes in the sand
and knowing what that feels like to go in the ocean and feel
temperature on your legs. And yeah, I feel like I was
sitting in bed and I was just thinking like, or even what it
would be like to go to the bathroom and have it take only
30 seconds again instead of 10 minutes.
And one of my least favorite things still to this day is
pulling your pants up. I tell everyone I think we
should make a community decision to that no one wears pants.
I'm not sure I'm there yet. I mean, it's possible you could
convince me, but. I will advocate for that so
hard, but. Yeah, I feel like the down times
is just thinking about the little things that I used to be
able to do that I just, I miss. And like also just being able to
get your legs to go crisscross applesauce by themselves.
It's just those little things. And I do get down about that.
I'm so grateful for the things that I can still do, especially
because of today's day and age and all the electronic things
that have come out. But you still miss.
You still miss the old life. It's kind of like I had old
Savannah and now I'm new Savannah.
It's almost like the old me has passed away.
It, it does feel like that a little bit because who I used to
be is not who I am today because of how I've changed and how my
life has changed. And so I do get down about those
moments. Like I just miss.
I hated running and I miss what. It feels like to run to put
like. To be able to get cardio that
way and to like feel the weight of the ground underneath you,
jolt up your legs and have that pounding feeling, you just miss
things like that. And so I do get down about that
at times. If you could go back in time to
that moment and pull that out from ever happening.
I mean, just based on where you are today, the change that it's
made in you, the old and the new, all that stuff, If you
could stop that rock from lifting up, would you do that?
No, no, definitely not. There's just been so many things
that have come from this. I mean, even being with you here
today in Wisconsin where I did my 4th grade report on, you
know, like there's just been people that I've met and who
I've become that, you know, I think this life is crazy and
things happen and I'm just glad that I get to be a part of it.
And the people who I've met, my other fellow paraplegics and
quadriplegics, being those people and becoming friends with
them has also just been an incredible adventure.
And I wouldn't change it for the world.
Wow, that's that's really cool to hear actually.
I'm so impressed. I wasn't sure you were going to
answer it that way. Yeah.
Oh, yeah, for sure. I mean, just because based off
of just the memories that you have of running and the dreaming
of what that's like to experience those things again
and all that stuff, Do you do you look at now you mentioned a
little bit about people in wheelchairs that you you would
see and they're just like, oh, they just can't walk.
But do you see people differently now when you see
people in wheelchairs? I mean, cause really when when
you see somebody in a wheelchair, typically right,
you're just like, oh, OK, what's wrong with that person?
Yeah, whatever. Kind of brush it off and walk
past and you ever think of it again.
Yeah, I mean, I feel like had I seen me previously how I was and
seen me rolling around in a wheelchair, you know, I'd be
like, what happened? Oh, does she need help?
Can she do that? You know, I have a lot of people
still come up to me when I'm getting in my car and they're
like, can I help you? What can I do?
I'm like, no, no, I'm good. I feel like I do see people in
wheelchairs differently because like you just see them as
another person, like a normal person and another.
Very capable person. Very capable person.
And like, even quadriplegics who can't move their arms either,
you just see them as someone who's capable.
It's not like their personality has really changed.
They're still, yeah, totally the same person, you know, And yeah,
you do see him as a different in a different light.
Honestly, it's pretty cool. OK.
I want to back up real quick just to something that you said
way early on, but you said that you fell and you landed on your
head or your face, right? Yeah.
I don't see any scarring. Nothing happened to my face.
I mean, how did you? Had a little, you had a little.
Shiner, I had a little scrape right here that had like a scab
that fell off. Do you think maybe you were
looking up and you hit like chest maybe or because I did
that blows my mind. Yeah, I don't know how that
happened. From what I'm told from how the
video shows it is I landed straight on my face.
I know why you haven't looked at the video, but are you going to
look at the video? I honestly don't know.
I don't know if I'll To me, I feel like I have no trauma from
that day and I think in the back of my mind I'm worried that if I
look at it, I might. And so I just don't look at it
for that sake because I still look at that day as a beautiful
day that I got to experience. I don't see a lot of miracles.
And so I just don't want that to change.
I want it to stay that way. I don't think it would.
Just from the hour we've been talking, I can't imagine.
Yeah, I don't think much is. I mean, if you, if you not being
able to walk hasn't changed you. I mean, seeing the fall, I can't
imagine. Yeah, I just feel like we're
kind of like already moved on and we've had such a such a
great, like honestly a very successful time being paralyzed.
But I just kind of feel like, you know, it's in the past.
We moved on and there's there's there's no point in in seeing
the video because I don't want it.
I guess I don't want it to like Jade my perspective of like, oh
man, if I had been there or if if we've done something
different and then all sudden this bitterness that I didn't.
Have you can't think like that? Somehow like comes in.
It's in the past. This was, I mean, I, I didn't
know that an anchor came up. And honestly, I was a little
worried for you coming here because I heard that you were
helping guide, but you fell. And I thought, oh, my gosh, did
she do something wrong as a guide?
But you obviously didn't. This was completely out of your
control. Yeah.
And so I can't imagine even feeling that way would even be
possible. Yeah, it it really was just a
fluke that happened. And so I feel like that also
helps with not having any bitterness towards that day.
Like you said, it's just just a freak accident.
How's your buddy's arm? It's good, it's good.
I think he there's like a movement that is he still can't
fully do. But yeah, he's great.
He's got pretty good motion in his wrist considering how broken
it was. And we were family friends
before and we were close but since her accident we're we're
super. Close with with.
Bronson and he's a super great support.
We hang out with him frequently and I feel like that's also kind
of helped where it's not like this was a car accident or a
drunk driver or something that like was somebody else's fault
and there is this emotion pinned on somebody else.
It's cool that the person that that was involved with it with
her is like a very positive, supportive person and it's not,
you know, it's not their fault. And so it's been great to have
Bronson as like our friend and our person connected to this.
He's he's amazing. I should also say Bronson is old
enough to be my dad. He's older.
And so it was like we were friends before, but it was still
like a dad friend. You know?
I feel like we're like equals now, though.
We always say we were connected by rope that day, but we're
connected for life now just because there's such a bond and
connection there that has been there since this accident.
Yeah. That's awesome.
I wanna can I ask you a personal question?
You don't have to answer if you don't want to, but I so like I
noticed that when you're talk, when she's talking, you're
trying to comfort you. Do you?
Are you putting your hand on her leg?
OK, you can't feel that. But what are you feeling like
emotionally when that happens? Are you feeling like the
sensation of he's comforting me? It's so odd to like explain how
you can still feel things when you can't feel them.
It's like you still get that comforting feeling, and even
though I can't feel it, when I see it with my eyes, it's almost
like you get the same sensation as if you could feel it anyway.
Oh wow, yeah, there. It's it's so hard to explain but
it's like because my brain knew what that felt like before.
Could it be like I can? I can't feel you smiling, but I
can feel the emotion of. You smiling?
Yeah, it's exactly like that. What's that like for you?
I mean, I probably don't think too much about it's still the
same for me, right? When I touch her leg, it still
feels the same. And also like with her spasms,
like her legs will still squeeze.
And so I honestly kind of feels like she like knows that I'm
there and she's like squeezing my leg.
I mean, she squeezing my hand with her legs.
And so I don't know, I just is like still, it still feels the
same for me. Honestly, I don't, I don't think
I, I like to overthink it. There are sometimes though where
like if I am sitting next like in a movie or something, I, I
will still like poke her leg and stuff.
And if she's focused on the movie, obviously she shouldn't
know that I'm like trying to get her attention and I'll forget.
Sometimes I'm like, Oh yeah, then I have to like move up to
her shoulder and like her. Attention that way.
But yeah, I mean I would still that probably happens regularly.
I have a super funny story about.
Like something like that though. We were going to bed and we're
just laying there and like he's cuddling me and I'm like, he's
pretty ticklish. I'm just going to like tickle
his leg real quick. And so I'm like tickling his leg
and he's not moving. I'm like, like, and then I'm
like tapping his knee and like trying to like get some reflex.
Nothing is happening. And so I like, look over at him
and like, are you not ticklish? He's like, what are you talking
about? I was stroking my own leg.
I was like, oh, that's really awkward.
I'm like thinking like, what the heck.
Why isn't he moving? Why is he not responding to
this? This is so odd.
Yeah, it's pretty. Funny are you seeing any doctors
for future like hope at all? Are you therapy like people that
might have like some sort of a miracle cure or is that being
looked at at all for your? Currently with me, I'm not
seeing anybody for that. I do go back to my doctors just
because like, like I said, with the nerve pain, trying to like
get the correct cocktail of medication to not have it as
much anymore. And it's kind of like you just
need to have a doctor for pretty much everything once you're in a
wheelchair. It's like for when we want to
have kids in the future, like I'm pretty much on watch the
entire time if I'm when I'm pregnant because so many things
can happen when you're pregnant in a wheelchair or what's
another thing? Like I, I've gone back from my
spasms too, to see what we can do about my spasms.
There is something called a Baclofen pump where they put in
this pump that kind of looks like a hockey puck into your
abdomen. And then there's a tube that
goes into your spinal canal that pumps the medication directly
into there. And that is always like the
problem solver for spasms with paralyzed people.
Like if they have spasms and they want them to like if it's
really affecting their daily life, then they'll go to the
Baclofen pump. And I remember they came in when
I was really considering it. And what they do is they do a
trial first just to make sure it's going to work.
And the doctor came in and he's like, it'll work, like 99%
chance it's going to work. So I went in recently, just in
the last two months to go do this trial.
And I just happened to be the 1% that it didn't work on.
And so I was the first patient ever that they have seen that it
didn't work on. So now we're just trying to
experiment with other things like Botox to see if we can get
my muscle spasms to calm down so hopefully I can be able to
transfer back into my chair again.
But yeah, just see doctors for random stuff like that.
To answer your question more directly though, I feel like you
kind of got a little. I guess I tracked.
There's some really amazing things come out, like the stem
cell treatments and you see these people who haven't walked
or had movement in a long time now have success.
And there's like some studies going on in Japan and in
Switzerland and stuff like that. And so I feel like again, it's
kind of one of those things like I've just kind of thought we've
kind of both of us have probably kind of just tabled.
Like if it comes out and it's a, it's a sure thing and, and, and
she can get it and she'll be able to move again, then that
would be amazing. But quite frankly, if she was
gonna have movement of her legs again, it would take a lot.
It would be a lot of work for her to be able to move and walk
like how she used to. And so it's almost easier to
just accept life in the wheelchair and do all the fun
stuff in the wheelchair, then try to readapt and get the leg
muscle back and her hips replaced and getting her knees
back into a spot where they would all be working again.
Walking. Life now would be really,
really. Plus you hard.
You'd have to give up all the cool things you're building.
Yeah, yeah. I mean.
All the cool machinery. That we.
Yeah. What am I supposed to do with
all this? Yeah, yeah.
Is it if it's OK, I wanna I wanna tell one more thing or
talk about Savannah. It just like who who she is.
So I bought her a dirt bike early in our in our dating life
and she just crushed it. And anything that I gave
Savannah to do 'cause she had never dirt biked or never
mountain biked and anything that I gave her to do, like adventure
wise, she was just on it. And she learned just quicker
than anybody I've ever seen in my life.
She just learned it so, so fast. So it was a lot of fun teaching
her new things because she'd pick it up so fast and we'd have
fun doing it together. And so when we were in the
hospital, it was kind of like that same thing.
She really, it was just like, she's very competitive.
She comes from a very competitive family.
So when the hospital Savannah like needed a bar, she needed
like someone to compete with. And so her therapist really good
about competing her up against herself.
So like getting herself dressed, getting her shoes on,
transferring and stuff like that.
So honestly, the hospital, like it sounds odd, but like I loved
the hospital over there. It was a lot of fun because we
were working like 222 therapy sessions every day that are each
two hours and she was just working hard and making tons of
progress the whole time and it was just fun.
And 21 days in her accident, one of the nonprofits up at the up
in Utah called Wasatch Adaptive Sports offers from for them to
go biking on the road in an adaptive mountain bike.
So 21 days after she had fallen, she was biking with Wasatch
Adaptive Sports, biking with the also in three.
Weeks. Three weeks she was in a she
was. In a hospital at the time, but
they had like a connection where one person from the hospital in
their inpatient rehab, if able, can go biking with them on their
bike ride. Wow.
Yeah. So she did that and we were also
biking with a girl who'd also been paralyzed like 3 years
prior to that, who we're very similar ages with.
And it was just nice to talk to her and see all the stuff she's
doing because she's also just a total badass, just skiing and
mountain biking, doing all this fun adventurous stuff.
So I think that also kind of like set a bar for Savannah,
like, oh, when I'm out of the hospital and I'm, you know, done
doing rehab full time, there's all this really cool stuff that
I can be involved in. And then we'd actually signed up
for a triathlon with my work prior to her accident.
And it was five days after I got out of the hospital.
And of course she still wanted to do it.
So we borrowed a bike from a local company that it's just a,
it's just a trike with an electric throttle.
And so, yeah, we got home from the hospital on Monday.
We left for the triathlon on Friday, and we did the triathlon
on Saturday. So she skipped the swim just
because she's not she at this point, she's still healing from
her surgery. So she wasn't allowed to be in
the water, but she did the bike and the run with me.
And it was just super cool to have Savannah there.
And I make this joke that it was the best experience, but also
the worst experience of my life because I'm like putting in this
work and biking and I'm running and Savannah, quite frankly, is
not doing any work. She's just twisting A throttle.
And I didn't get, I didn't get one bit of praise the whole time
during the triathlon because I'm with this cute girl and, you
know, like an adaptive bike. So everyone's like, yeah, go
Savannah. Wow, you're so amazing.
And I'm like running and biking next for the whole time getting
0 praise. And I'm like this is the worst.
I guess this. Is awful.
So anyway, that was just another really cool experience and I
think kind of where it started for me.
Like our life really can be totally normal and totally fun
and we can do whatever we put our mind to so.
That's awesome. Yeah.
Well, you're pretty incredible people, for sure.
The positive attitude, what you've gone through, the fact
that you are totally fine. You're just like, yeah,
absolutely. I'd keep this in a heartbeat
because of all the cool things that have happened and looking
at your future in such a positive way.
I think it's really awesome. Thank you.
Yeah, Anything else? I don't think so I can think of
unless you have any questions. No, I'm good, man.
Thanks for being here. I appreciate you guys.
Yeah, really. Good.
It's been awesome. Thank you.