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

Originally posted by sizzle
reply to post by thelibra

 

Libra,
As I said in the opening of this thread, there are many heroes here on ATS, but this was the first that I have heard your awesome story.

I am a chronic-pain patient and felt like I have exercised monumental control by not giving in to the 'pain-medication route.' But in comparison to you guys and what you have endured....I feel like a whiney baby! LOL!

I'm also in chronic pain due to a lower back/hip problem and have been dealing with it since Oct 2001.

I've been trying to rehab it on my own and only occasionally use NSAIDs.

I share your comments on being both enlightened and strengthened by this post of pure courage.

EDIT: to add, please don't feel like you're a whiny baby. You also show a lot of courage. Dealing with chronic pain on any level is very difficult.

[edit on 1-5-2008 by Badge01]

Though I can appreciate some posters talking about guardian angels and the mercy of a divine being, there is a pharmacological explanation for some of these reactions.

When a prey animal is attacked by a predator in the wild, there is a hormone cascade that occurs involving cortico-hormones like ACTH and prolactin and even (IIRC) oxytocin.

The first cascade allows a heightened response on the part of the prey, mobilizing the fight or flight mechanism.

The second occurs when the prey has been caught and now is in a life-threatening situation.

Scientists believe that this second cascade basically anesthetizes the prey animal and puts it in a state similar to receiving a large dose of morphine (endorphins), so it does not feel the effects of their imminent death and predation and it actually is at peace in those final moments.

It may be that this hormone cascade also occurs in humans, but, of course involves human hormones, and allows various effects, including those seen as out of the body experiences, the infamous 'white light' and other effects.

Not trying to diminish the spiritual nature of what happened, but just making a comment about what might also be happening on a physical level. FWIW.

BTW, to me the courageous person 4tF is a natural story teller and writer and definitely deserves the points bonus and the elevation to writer status.

Very inspiring and captivating.

I can't believe the bizarro, mental, malcontents didn't cause a major issue with you posting another member's story for them and claim you had broke T&C doing it. (That's what they did to me a couple of years ago when a member asked me to post their self-written story for them.)

sizz...Thank you for being a conduit to an awesome story. As an aunt to a quadraplegic who barely lived through a vehicle accident, and a sister to a man who had an NDE, I appreciate all the many facets of this story. The love, courage and constitution of the various people involved in bringing our dear member through (including her own character) is awesome to read.

Thank you 4tf for letting us read your story!

Originally posted by 4thefight
How many bones did you break?

Not nearly as many as you. I honestly don't remember all the stuff they worked on. It was by now almost 20 years ago, and I just never paid much attention to it, but my right arm was broken up through the skin, my shoulder torn out of socket, minor concussion, some ribs broken, more yet cracked. Some internal bleeding, and something to do with the lung, but not a puncture. I'd have to ask my mom, she'd remember better than I would. The ribs were the worst. I was extremely lucky for two main reasons: one, almost the entire impact was absorbed by my right arm and ribs, and two, the fact that I hit a tree sticking out from a cliff, since there was enough angle to absorb a lot of energy from the fall, and to keep me from "bouncing" off of it, and hooked enough (it was at a wierd angle coming out of the cliff, but then went upward) to "catch" me. It was really a one in a million shot.

Originally posted by 4thefight
That was messed up that they would not treat you because you didn't have a credit card.

Yeah, let that be a warning to any skiers out there, always carry a credit card with you on American slopes. Heh... heh...eh...

Originally posted by 4thefight
What really got me is that almost the exact same thing ran through our minds as we went over the edge.

Yeah, that was one of the reasons I responded actually. I guess it's one of those "Well, there's just nothing I can do about it now, so I might as well accept it" sorta things. I mean, there was no one to beg for my life from, and there was no one to impress by having false hope. I just knew that was it, this is how I die, and it was surprisingly easy to accept, and gave me the most astounding sense of calm when I accepted it. I can only hope that one day, when ol' Grim comes to collect his due, that I can be as calm.

Originally posted by 4thefight
Does it bother you to relive what happened to you. I know I was typing my story up last night it was almost as if reliving it. Does that happen to you?

Strangely, no. Of course at the time it was horrible, but within a couple of years, I was more or less fully healed and had gone a while without thinking about what happened. Then when visiting family in another city, they asked me to tell them about the skiing accident. As I got near the end, where the banana flipped over, my uncle burst out laughing, which broke the tension in the room, and everyone sorta laughed, then laughed more when they heard about the minister and the credit card incident. Laughter does wonders for the soul.

So it's kind of become one of those "I can look back on it and laugh now". I expect that had I suffered any serious permanent disability from it, the story might be different. But where I've had the worst reaction to it is, oddly enough, when I'm falling asleep.

I will often get a "falling" sensation as I'm drifting off to sleep. And sometimes, it will couple with an "almost" dream about falling off that cliff all over again, minus the calm, just dread fear. That and I now get pretty bad vertigo. I don't so much have a fear of heights as I do a problem keeping my balance when standing on ground much higher than what I'm looking at. Still, these are fairly minor inconveniences that have allowed me to otherwise live a normal life.

Originally posted by sizzle
Libra,
As I said in the opening of this thread, there are many heroes here on ATS, but this was the first that I have heard your awesome story...
I feel as though I stand in the shadow of some very courageous people here. Or should I say, "Giants?"

Honestly, my fall didn't take an ounce of courage or heroism on my part, unless you count renting discount skis to be courageous. All it required was me being dumb enough to rent cheap gear, and then being too clumsy to make it down the slope without falling. The rest was really math and me screaming a lot. :LOL: I appreciate the vote of confidence though.

Originally posted by sizzle
I am a chronic-pain patient and felt like I have exercised monumental control by not giving in to the 'pain-medication route.' But in comparison to you guys and what you have endured....I feel like a whiney baby! LOL!

Not at all!!! My pain was relatively short term. It seemed like a million years at the time, but honestly, the worst was over by the time I got the cast on and everything. The ribs hurt for a very long time afterward, and occasionally still do, but that's really it.

Chronic pain is, IMHO, far worse than broken bones. I got a dry-socket after a root canal a year or so back, and got a taste of what chronic pain feels like. It was this horrible throbbing pain that just radiated out through my entire body, and no amount of medication did anything to stop it, even Lortab and Darvocet. It went on for days, each day worse than the last. It was like every movement, every action, was in slow motion, and that motion was through very painful jello. It was crippling. There's no other word for it, crippling.

Then when I called the dental surgeon and he said "Oh, you've got a dry socket, come right in, we'll fix it up", and he tamped a nasty tasting swab into the hole, it was better in minutes, and gone within a couple of hours. It was more than a great weight being lifted, it was like a whole new lease on life, a whole new vantage point about just how good I had it.

If anything, Sizzle, you and Badge01 are the heroes. Chronic pain is an indescribably horrible thing to suffer from, and I sincerely hope they one day find a cure for what ails y'all.

Originally posted by thelibra
If anything, Sizzle, you and Badge01 are the heroes. Chronic pain is an indescribably horrible thing to suffer from, and I sincerely hope they one day find a cure for what ails y'all.

Yeah, I suppose you could say that. My 'therapy' for my problem, which is a type of sciatica and maybe some joint arthriis has conspired to relegate me to walking with a cane.

But I discovered I can ride a bike, even though it's painful. With every turn of the pedal I can feel the pain, but some days it's pretty minor. Other days it hurts so much that it takes me about 15 minutes before I'm able to ignore it.

For those that road race and do hill climbs on a bike, they know it's all about pain. So what I've done is counter the chronic pain by applying acute pain, such that the pain of riding hard, the legs, the lungs, the body overwhelms the chronic pain.

It doesn't always work, in fact I'm limited in the distance I can ride by the pain in the hip.

Back to the original story, for me the 'courage' came in her on the spot attempts to get her arm around and tucked into her suit to reduce the trauma and in enduring the extraction. I'm sure there was some physical therapy involved after the event, which takes a lot of courage to endure and finally there's the will and the courage involved in regaining the motion in that elbow.

Stories of people enduring and surviving are inspiring and help others who have similar paths to travel.

Though my pain is chronic, I often think of the story of the Little Mermaid, who accepted that there'd be constant pain when she was magically given legs in place of her fishtail. Whenever she walked she'd experience this pain, but accepted it to be with something (or in that story, someone) she loved.

Good to hear your story, too!

reply to post by Badge01


Hi Badge,
I, too have taken up bicycling. I went for the adult tricycle. You would have laughed your hiney off watching me learn how to steer that thing. It is very different, indeed. I have done many things to control my pain, I play Spider Solitaire (Medium level) FURIOUSLY. To win that game, you definitely have to concentrate.
Not whining, but my pain derives from a spinal compression injury (slip-and-fall). Bulging disks in lower back, degenerative bone disease and more recently have been diagnosed with poly-peripheral neuropathy and fibromyalgia. Prayer and meditation also helps me.
As the old saying goes, "If I had known I was going to live this long, I would have taken better care of myself." LOL! A sense of humor helps also.
Hats off to all overcomers and survivors and their personal methods of dealing with circumstances.

EDIT: to add, please don't feel like you're a whiny baby. You also show a lot of courage. Dealing with chronic pain on any level is very difficult.

I agree. I am still have some pain, I am very fortunate to not have pain all the time like I am sure many of you do. I do have a peice of advice, it has helped me to get up and keep moving, I tend to have less pain when I stay active even if its as little as going outside and smelling the fresh air. And yes it may hurt as you are moving around but in the ling run it is not as bad.

Thank you Badge01 for the scientific aspect of what happened. My mom had told me it was endorphins, but that still does not explain how I watched my cousin run down ot me. But I do believe that the endophins helped me emensilly.

Valhall what is a NDE?

I have more I want to say but I have to go to work. I'll post more tonite.

Originally posted by 4thefight
Valhall what is a NDE?

In case Valhall is busy, I'll answer this.

An NDE is a Near Death Experience and they can be compelling evidence of a soul/spirit within us. I speak from personal occurances on this as I have had an Out-of-Body Experience myself.

Here is a website whuich discusses examples of NDE's.

Thanks for that extraordinary experience of your life 4thefight, that truly touched me deep in my heart. Thanks for helping her out with this story sizzle. I'm so glad to hear that you're doing well and I wish you the best. You have a good guardian friend in your cousin and he done an awesome job getting you the help to save your life. These people who do rescues and operations and all the skills they have and the passion they possess to help & save lives are truly special humans. My love goes out to them.

[edit on 5/2/2008 by Solarskye]

Yeah, that was one of the reasons I responded actually. I guess it's one of those "Well, there's just nothing I can do about it now, so I might as well accept it" sorta things. I mean, there was no one to beg for my life from, and there was no one to impress by having false hope. I just knew that was it, this is how I die, and it was surprisingly easy to accept, and gave me the most astounding sense of calm when I accepted it. I can only hope that one day, when ol' Grim comes to collect his due, that I can be as calm

Wow I wish I could have put into words like that. I know what you mean about accepting it, It was surprisingly easy. There was no begging to live when I went over the edge. Just acceptance.

I will often get a "falling" sensation as I'm drifting off to sleep. And sometimes, it will couple with an "almost" dream about falling off that cliff all over again, minus the calm, just dread fear. That and I now get pretty bad vertigo. I don't so much have a fear of heights as I do a problem keeping my balance when standing on ground much higher than what I'm looking at. Still, these are fairly minor inconveniences that have allowed me to otherwise live a normal life.

That's another similarity in our experences. If you saw the article the lady interviewing me put that in there. I'll dream im falling, and get jolted awake. After my accident the said that was part of the post traumatic stress syndrome. I have no fear of heights either. I did go to an amusment park and rode this ride where the take you up like 100 feet in the air and you free fall and I was so shooken up I had to leave the park. It really scared me and it caused me ALOT of pain which looking back on it now was a little strange.

Originally posted by 4thefight

Thank you Badge01 for the scientific aspect of what happened. My mom had told me it was endorphins, but that still does not explain how I watched my cousin run down ot me. But I do believe that the endophins helped me emensilly.

Welcome. Of course we are only beginning to understand the way hormones affect the brain, but we do know that the brain is an amazing structure, capable of incredible things as you may know from seeing what savants can do.

I wouldn't be too surprised if there was a 'scientific' explanation for you being able to 'see' your brother running down to you. Here's one:

As you know some people experience 'synesthesia' or the interpretation of sound as colors or smell as a visual thing. Perhaps under stress some people can 'synesthese', or synthesize, vibrations, sound, smells and other cues to formulate a visual 'picture' of an event that, though a complex visual thing, can be 'decoded' by the brain into a visual signal that is amazingly accurate.

Remember the guy who can use 'echo location' to ride a bike, though he's blind? He just emits a 'ping' by clicking his tongue and the echo return allows him to avoid obstacles.

Now, I'm not saying this is what happened to you. Maybe you had a minor 'paranormal' out-of-the-body experience, or just did an ordinary visualization that seemed 'real'.

(BTW, I also fell over a cliff when I was in the 5th or 6th grade, when a root I grabbed gave way. I fell only about 20-30 feet and some of that time I was sliding (the cliff was a few degrees off from vertical). I was a little bloodied up but no injuries.)

Anyway, sending positive thoughts and stuff and hope your pain resolves completely.

Uh, not that having scars is bad, but did you know they can 'resect' large scars and fix them to be unnoticeable? I'm surprised you have a 'worm' scar on your back. That means the doc who sewed you up should have been flunked out of second year med school (you're supposed to use sub-cutaneous sewing or stapling).

On the subject of pain management, in my case I treat the minor to moderate chronic pain by applying acute pain. IOW, I use the pain of working out (riding a bike up hills and sprinting) to overlay the chronic pain, and I also use muscle soreness pain. This does two things. It teaches my body (just guessing here) to put out more endorphins and it also makes the chronic pain seem less by comparison. (ymmv, but it works for me).

Take care and thanks for the reply!

Do you have to take a lot of pain meds?

reply to post by Badge01


Why don't you want to use pain medicine? For people with documented chronic pain, there are meds that can give you a near pain-free life. Chronic pain sufferers don't get addicted in the same way that thrill seekers do, as the pain itself absorbs most of the meds and you don't get a mental high. I had 3 basiically failed back surgeries in the 90's and wasn't going to suffer the resto f my life for anything. I don't care one bit if some people look at me as weak or whatever; they don't walk in my shoes. Anyway, if you want in-depth info. regarding my pain management, I will talk w/ you off the forum. I have gone to a pain management specialist since 2001 and I am still working my job of 22 years. Most people would throw in the tower and go on social secuirity disability, but I wasn't ready to give up. Do you work?

reply to post by Bumbeni

Do you have to take a lot of pain meds?

I had to take alot of pain meds for about two years. At first Demerol, and then Vicodin. By the time I was 16, I was hooked on Vicodins, and ended up going down to just ibuprofen. I hate to take any pills, so now I only take pain meds if I am in serious pain.

reply to post by 4thefight


4tf, you're an amazing woman, I certainly do and can appreciate everything you've gone through!

I've had almost every bone broken in my body at one point or another, im a glutten for punishment.

Im thoroughly impressed with your resilience and bright outlook. Keep it up girl! Always turn to me if I can ever be any help ^^

Godspeed,


AB1