Haunting words 14-year-old son said as he hallucinated, walked off 120-foot cliff in front of terrified father
A Haunting words 14-year California teenager in a hospital medically induced coma described seeing “snowmen and Kermit the Frog” before sliding down a 120-foot slope ahead of his father, who was hallucinating from altitude sickness.
Ryan Wach said he and his 14-year-old son, Zane, were hiking on Mount Whitney in the Sierra Nevada on June 10 when the unthinkable happened, according to news.
the boy suffered head injury from fall above one hundred twenty feet & remains in a coma. he also fractured an ankle, & his finger,& also a part of his pelvis.
he was placed in hospital after sliding down cliff he also suffering from altitude sickness.
The frightening events unfolded as the couple descended mountain, but the father initially had no doubts about his son’s ability to undertake the hike.
He is in better shape than me, Wach told the outlet, adding that his son had hiking experience & was active teenager who competed in cross-country running, swimming, and triathlons.
This idea was it to be kind of introduction the mountaineering.”
However, as the father and son climbed the mountain, Zane gradually began to exhibit symptoms of altitude sickness, his father said.
Hiking experience & was active teenager
Wach noticed his son was having problems, but they had already completed the most difficult parts of the hike. He decided to take an easier trail to ensure a safer seven-mile descent to their car. Wach said, Zane began the “hallucinating.”his father knew he was hallucinating,” Wach said. He said he saw many things like snowmen & Kermit the Frog.
Wach said he watched his son closely as they descended the trail and noticed he was “definitely looking better.” About an hour later, however, Zane started acting strangely again and questioning whether it was “real.”
“I’m guessing it was a combination of exhaustion, lack of sleep, probably dehydration, and the lasting effects of altitude sickness. But he started questioning whether it was real.”As they continued their hike, Wach explained that they had to stop after Zane told his father they had “done this hike a few times before.”
“It was completely bizarre,” Wach recalled.
“He told me he didn’t know if he was dreaming or not, and he was shaking his head in disbelief, like, ‘This isn’t real.’ Like he was in the movie ‘Inception’ or something.”
Zane’s deteriorating mental state prompted another group of hikers nearby to call a search and rescue team to get him down the mountain.
However, around the same time, Zane’s behaviour worsened, his father recounted.
Zane Wach hallucinated
Wach said his son began making erratic movements toward a ledge near the steep, uneven trail, but he caught him before he could cross.
The 14-year-old told his father he was heading toward the car, even though it was several thousand feet below the mountain.
Later, he also tried to head toward slope, but Wach stopped him, & Zane explained that he was try to get the dinner.
120-foot cliff in front of terrified father
Wach felt overwhelmed by Zane’s safety and, overcome with emotion, burst into tears and briefly let go of him.
I had wipe away my tears.
This time, I did not hear him until he almost at the edge. When I went to try to caught him, but he was 10 feet away from myself. but i can not done it, & he fell .My son Zane fell about one hundred twenty feet before hit the ground. Wach said he rushed to his son’s side when nearby hiker, who happened to a paramedic, noticed the situation and assisted in the rescue.
Haunting words 14-year Zane remained on the slope for about six hours while Inyo County Search and Rescue teams worked to pull him from the mountain.
He was airlifted to Southern Inyo Hospital in Lone Pine and then flown to the nearest paediatric trauma center, Sunrise Children’s Hospital in Las Vegas.
However, given the severity of the fall, doctors at Sunrise called it “pretty miraculous” that he wasn’t more injured, his father told the outlet.
