The Accident
On Wednesday, August 8th 2007, Mark Wiranowski led his cousin, a novice climber, up a beautiful beginner's route called 'Batman and Robin' just outside of Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado.
Incredible
In all, Mark received 6 units of intravenous fluid during the rescue and 5 more units of blood during his first surgery. As Mark entered the Operating Room that first night, the surgeon told his wife, you need to be prepared for Mark to come out of this surgery without a lower right leg. . .
Little did either of them expect that later that day Mark's life would hang in the balance. On the descent as he scrambled to retrieve a rope, a fridge-sized boulder came loose and crushed Mark's lower right leg.
An experienced EMT who was first on the scene and who has worked in the backcountry for 25 years described the accident as "by far the most serious I've encountered. It was life-threatening and the actual injury was gruesome." However, he commended Mark's response as "by far one of the most remarkable displays of courage and grace I've ever witnessed. He was calm, present and strong throughout." The rescue itself took nearly eight hours due to the technical nature of the situation. During that time, Mark was losing a lot of blood, and the pain was intense. During the first attempt to lower him feet first down a granite wall, Mark instantly lost consciousness due to blood loss. He awoke to hear the lead rescuer calling in for permission to tie a tourniquet - a reasonable request under the circumstances. Mark calmly appealed, "If you can just back off the morphine, I can concentrate on my breathing and have a better chance at staying conscious."
With incredible strength and courage, Mark used pressure breathing for six hours to increase his oxygen intake. He remained conscious despite the heavy blood loss. In all, Mark received 6 units of intravenous fluid during the rescue and 5 more units of blood during his first surgery. As Mark entered the Operating Room that first night, the surgeon told his wife, you need to be prepared for Mark to come out of this surgery without a lower right leg. . .