An Arizona man is still recovering from a wild 700-foot fall he took while attempting to climb Oregon’s highest point last month, but when he’s better, he plans to go back and conquer the mountain that nearly cost him his life.
Chris Zwierzynski, 55, of Scottsdale is lucky to be alive after suffering 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,” Zwierzynski told the station. “Most of the doctors I talk to – and my friends, my family – all use the word ‘miracle,’ as if I’m some kind of miracle for surviving that fall. Maybe I am.”
Zwierzynski said his 50th birthday goal was to climb the highest peaks in every state. Lately, he’s been checking off the western peaks because they’re generally much higher and more difficult.
“I want to do this while I’m still young,” he said.
But his trip up the 3,350-meter-high mountain east of Portland eventually went wrong, and the National Guard had to fly him to the hospital by helicopter after his brutal fall.
He spent four days in intensive care, his face bloody and his body mutilated.
His severe injuries – including broken ribs and a broken ankle – left him almost unrecognizable, according to his wife Laurie.
“His eyes were swollen shut, his eye sockets were broken,” she told the station. “His nose was broken in two places. He had two brain hemorrhages and a concussion.”
Despite the terrible impact the fall had on his body, Zwierzynski said that while he was stuck in the hospital bed, all he could think about was his family.
“I couldn’t imagine what they were going through when they heard this news,” the climber said.
Laurie said she could barely remember the call telling her her husband had fallen.
“I was in shock,” she said. “I didn’t know what had happened, I didn’t know what was going on, and the only thing I could do was pray and trust that God had this in his hands and keep going.”
The resilient couple said they got through the horrors with positive thinking – and faith.
“He could have been brain dead, he could have been paralyzed, he could have had amnesia,” Laurie said. “All kinds of things could have happened that didn’t happen. And I praise God for that every day.”
In the meantime, Zwierzynski set deadlines for his recovery.
“I set goals for myself when I was in the hospital room,” he said. “‘I’m going to be discharged on Monday, I’m going to be able to walk on that day, I’m going to get up and do that on that day.'”
And it seems to work.
“All of these things have happened – just don’t give up,” Zwierzynski said. “Your body is strong enough to endure.”
Earlier this month, a CT scan showed that Zwierzynski’s facial fractures were “healing well,” according to an Aug. 9 update to an GoFundMe campaign the family set up to help with medical expenses.
Doctors also removed a splint from his left ankle and he began therapy to regain his lost mobility, Zwierzynski wrote.
“There is still some numbness and discomfort on my right side where my ribs were crushed, but that is getting better every day,” he said. “My body is still pretty tired throughout the day. I’m sure it’s because I can’t sit still.”
“I haven’t been the best patient and I get grumpy when I’m told I can’t do something,” he continued.
“Nevertheless, I have not lost my will or my positive attitude. This is not least thanks to your support and friendship.”
And he has already said that he is not yet finished with the mountain that almost cost him his life.
“I will probably contact one of the tour guides and ask him to go with me so that I don’t tempt fate,” Zwierzynski said.
“But I think it’s definitely doable.”
