An Arizona man is still recovering from a 700-foot fall while attempting to summit Oregon’s highest peak last month, but says once he does, he’ll try again to scale the mountain that nearly claimed his life.
Chris Zwierczynski, 55, of Scottsdale, was lucky to survive a horrific fall on the slopes of Mount Hood in Oregon on July 6. According to Channel 12 News in Arizona.
“This doesn’t happen to everyone,” Zwierzinski told the station. “Most of the doctors I’ve spoken to, as well as my friends and family, all use the word ‘miracle’ as if it was a miracle that I survived this fall, and maybe it was.”
Zwierczynski said he vowed to climb the highest peak in every state when he turned 50. Lately, he’s been trying to tackle peaks in the West, because those are generally much higher and more difficult.
“I want to do it while I’m still young,” he said.
But at one point during his climb on the 11,200-foot mountain east of Portland, he fell south and the National Guard had to transport him by helicopter to a hospital.
He spent four days in intensive care with his face bloodied and his body in a mess.
His wife, Laurie, said he was barely recognisable due to extensive injuries, including broken ribs and a broken ankle.
“His eyes were swollen shut. [his] “He had a fractured eye socket,” she told the station. “His nose was broken in two places. He had two bleeds on the brain and a concussion.”
Despite the horrific damage done to his body in the fall, Zbiezynski said all he thought about as he was trapped in his hospital bed was his family.
“I [couldn’t] “Just imagine what they must have gone through when they heard this news,” the climber said.
Laurie said she barely remembers getting the call that her husband had fallen.
“I was in shock,” she said, “I didn’t know what had happened or what was going on. All I could do was pray and trust that God would make this possible and keep going.”
The resilient couple said they overcame the horror with a positive mindset and faith.
“He could have been brain dead, he could have been paralyzed, [gotten] “I have memory loss,” Laurie said, “and there are a lot of things that could have happened that didn’t happen, and I thank God every day for that.”
Zwierzynski, meanwhile, had set a deadline for his recovery.
“I was lying in the hospital setting goals for myself,” he said. “‘I’m going to be out on Monday, I’m going to be able to walk on this day, I’m going to get up and do this day.'”
And it seems to be working.
“These things happen, just don’t give up,” Zwierczynski said. “Your body is strong enough to withstand it.”
A CT scan from earlier this month showed Zwierzynski’s facial fractures were “healing well,” according to an Aug. 9 update on a GoFundMe the family set up to help with medical expenses.
Doctors also removed the splint from his left ankle, and he began treatment to regain lost mobility, Zwierczynski wrote.
“I still have a lot of numbness and discomfort on the right side where my ribs are fused, but it’s getting better each day,” he said. “My body still gets pretty tired late each day, and I think this is because I can’t sit still.
“So I’m not the best patient and I get upset when I’m told I can’t do something,” he continued.
“But I have not lost my willpower or positive attitude, and I owe it all to your support and friendship.”
And he has already said his battle with the mountain that nearly took his life is not over yet.
“I’m going to contact one of the guides to go with me so I don’t test fate,” Zwierzynski said.
“But I think it’s absolutely doable.”
