have him get on Skype. some of us are faster with speech than keyboard skills. Also, its good to hear a voice on the far end of things offering support.
my Skype: technomage-hawke -eric On Oct 26, 2013, at 5:26 PM, Cara Quinn wrote: > Hello again All, > > I just wanted to give you an update on Mark and Amy's story. > > Firstly though, please let me offer my sincere and deepest thanks to you all > who have shown your support and well-wishes. This not only means a tremendous > amount to Mark and Amy, but also means the world to me that we can come > together as a community to support each other when we are in need. > > Some of you have asked where the donations will go. Any donations will be > used for expenses associated with this incident and the medical care from > this. Mark has said that he will keep a record of everything associated with > this. Already it cost hundreds of dollars for Mark to simply tow Amy's car > back home. This cost has now been taken care of for them, fortunately. So > thank you all! :) > > You all are making a real difference here so I'm truly grateful to you!… > > Now, I'd like to share Mark's email address here so that you may send your > support to him. If you cannot offer financial support then please do consider > offering Amy and him your most valuable emotional support. It is truly > welcome… > > Below I'll first share Mark's email address and then a copy of the recent > article in a local Oregon paper about this incident which also offers an > update on Amy's condition. If you would like to know more, please do write > directly to Mark if you would? > > Now that this is known here, please let me suggest that we now move this to a > more personal level off the lists. Feel free to write me or Mark and do be > assured that any developments, I will share. Otherwise, I'm happy (and will > now encourage us) to continue this off the lists. > > Thanks so very, very much to you all for your support! I cannot express > enough how much this means to them and to me. > > Y'all are AWESOME!!! > > Have a wonderful weekend! Info and article follow… > > Sincerely, > > Cara > --- > Email Mark Baxter [email protected] > > The Article > > The Curry Coastal Pilot - Couple survives hiking ordeal > > > Mark Baxter and his girlfriend Amy Regan with their dogs, who were > instrumental in efforts to rescue Amy after a hiking accident. Submitted photo > Brookings resident Mark Baxter still isn’t sure what to make of what he calls > his misadventure along Damnation Creek near Klamath last weekend — an > afternoon jaunt that landed his girlfriend, Amy Regan, in ICU in Portland > with a broken back and no feeling in her arms and legs. > “There was a bunch of stupid decisions all down the line,” Baxter said > Wednesday of what was supposed to have been an easy afternoon hike. “I got > lucky. I got damn lucky.” > The two didn’t bring a survival kit, and were wearing sweatpants and > T-shirts. A friend has since reassured them that their clothing sounded > appropriate for a two-hour hike along a popular trail. > The 3.4-mile trek threads through a redwood forest down 1,000 vertical feet > into a rocky, secluded beach. It’s rated “easy,” and the couple are > experienced hikers. > “At first, the trail was great, so we continued,” Baxter said. “By the time > it got narrow and steep again, and Amy could see the ocean through the trees > ahead, we needed to turn back; it was getting dark.” > When they did, Regan and her dog, Luke, slipped and fell from the steep > embankment. Baxter later learned she likely slipped on rotting timbers left > from an old footbridge. > “I heard her fall, cry out, then a crash, then nothing,” Baxter said. “I > called out, ‘Amy! Can you answer me!’ And I heard nothing … for minutes.” > When he did hear something, he didn’t think it was human. But it was, and it > was Amy. > “I do not think I have ever in my life witnessed that much suffering and > agony,” he said. “It is a sound I hope never to hear again.” > Baxter and his dog, Ezra, scrambled down the hill to rescue her. > “She’d landed on her back, on the rocks at the bottom of an old creek bed,” > Baxter said. “And she kept saying, ‘No! No! No!’ over and over ... and told > me she couldn’t feel her legs.” > Baxter struggled back up the incline and worked his way about a quarter-mile > down the dark path until his iPhone finally got one bar. It took at least > four 911 calls — and disconnects due to poor reception in the valley — before > he was able to relay their situation to Del Norte’s Search and Rescue team. > He gave them the name of the trail; he told them about the footbridge. > But, no, he didn’t think he could get back to his vehicle. No, he couldn’t > describe where he was. > They ascertained his GPS coordinates, and Baxter’s phone died. > A few hours later, he was getting cold. He had the dogs with him, but he’d > left his sweatshirt with Regan. > And he couldn’t tell if rescue crews were approaching through the thick trees > and the dark night. > Baxter is blind. > Mark and Amy > > The 44-year-old Brookings man met his girlfriend on Facebook — he the > disillusioned musician and she looking for a new life away from the > strip-mine town of Butte, Mont. She joined him here six months ago. > > Amy has her own challenges, Baxter said, with psychiatric issues and a > condition that leaves her in constant pain. Hence her service dog, a lanky > German shepherd with steely copper eyes. > > “But we instinctively knew we were real (emotionally) close,” Baxter said. > “She is the most loving, caring, intense person I know. She is the bravest > person I’ve ever known.” > > Saturday, Baxter wasn’t feeling so brave, he said. He periodically shouted > out for the rescue team. He huddled with the dogs. He listened. > > “I’d done all I could do,” he said. > > Four hours later, he heard someone calling his name. > > In many ways, it was just the beginning of their travails. It took hours to > get Regan backboarded, up the cliff and back down to the trailhead, 3 miles > away. It was 3:30 a.m., about 12 hours since they’d set out on the hike. > > As they walked, a search and rescue volunteer quickly learned Baxter and Ezra > could navigate the dark path far better than he and his flashlight, and let > the two take the lead. They talked about the dogs, the school that had > trained Ezra, dogs in general. > > “I think he was mostly just trying to take my mind off what had just > happened,” Baxter said. “And as beat-up and tired as I was, I cannot imagine > what it was like for Amy to be stretcher-borne out of there.” > > Baxter said the dogs were the heroes that night. Luke led the rescue team to > Regan; Ezra, limping from his flight down the hill, led Baxter and the search > team carrying Amy out of the woods. > > He got a ride home from a park ranger; Amy remains in intensive care at > Oregon Health Sciences in Portland with a broken thoracic spine, three broken > ribs and a collapsed lung. Ezra is sore and tired; Luke is confused and sad. > > “It’s very possible Amy could recover from this,” Baxter said. “It’s too > early to tell. They’re just caring for her day to day. I don’t know anything > about her prognosis. And I have not yet stopped sending my gratitude to ‘Dog’ > for walking with me, for saving our lives.” > > Deep in the dark > > Numerous elements resulted in their survival that night. > > “The reason we got through that was my martial arts skills, keeping a level > head, and doing what you have to do,” Baxter said. “It’s been a theme of mine > throughout my life.” > > “It is horrifying, and also amazing,” said Dawn Nelson, a friend of the > couple who lives in Nevada. “It’s a testament to the power of love, the > abilities of guide dogs, the service of others, and the ability to do what > needs to be done, despite nearly insurmountable obstacles.” > > Baxter, born blind into a sighted world, has always refused to think that way. > > “When it came to anything at all — from high school and passing an exam, from > riding a bike to going camping — I had to blaze the trail,” he said. “I had > to tell everybody that, ‘Yes, I can do this; don’t put me in that box.’” > > He sought out experiences, began “collecting skills,” overcompensating to > prove to the sighted people that he had no weaknesses, no disabilities, that > he was no different than them. > > “If I had been sighted, I would have been immobilized,” he said of the > couple’s ordeal last weekend. “How a species can evolve with a dominant sense > that is useless 12 hours a day ... I just don’t get it. My skills don’t > involve sight at all. > > “Hearing,” he said, “is a more beautiful and useful sense.” > > That comment, from a man who is also profoundly deaf. > > He is a tactile human, feeling the world around him through his feet as he > walks, through pressure changes in the air as surroundings change. > > “Ask the land where to go,” he said. “It’s getting in nature, sitting with > Earth. Am I getting too New-Agey here?” > > He attributes that to Sensei Toda Yoshi, Baxter’s martial arts instructor. > With the attitude of ‘just do it,” the then-26-year-old learned the ancient > Japanese tradition of Shaolin Kempo Karate. > > There are a lot of fist, foot and body moves in karate, but there are also > the soft skills of the warrior: focusing the heart, power and energy through > the mind and into the body, Baxter explained. > > “I credit him with helping me save Amy because without his teaching, I would > not have been able to channel the panic in my heart, through my mind, into my > body, into actions, that got us out,” Baxter said. “Without what I know about > balance, and the strength that I have through keeping up my exercises, I > would not have had the physical ability to get out.” > > Other skills he learned through Tom Brown Jr.’s “tracker school,” a nature > and wilderness survival school based in New Jersey, where participants gain a > “closer attachment to the Earth and the skills and philosophy to live in > harmony and balance with creation.” > > “That’s what helped me stay on the trail, stay safe, and be calm enough in > the dark, in the night, in the woods, to use the skills I had to get us out,” > Baxter said. > > Amy > > Even though Regan’s out of the California woods, she isn’t out of the medical > woods. > > The most recent report Baxter has on Amy is that she has a shattered thoracic > vertebrae near her neck — surgeons put a permanent metal rod in her spine for > stability — and while she cannot move her arms or legs, she can wiggle her > hands and toes. She has five broken ribs and a ruptured lung. > > “With rehab, we hope this will get a lot better,” he said. “I constantly send > my gratitude to the great spirit for the intervention I know I received, > information from the land and my dogs and the night itself, which allowed me > to stay oriented, sane, and on the path to rescuing her. This will all get > better; it’s the waiting for Amy to come back that’s the hardest part for me. > > “It’s far from over,” he added. “I frankly have no idea what comes next. I > will not consider her rescued until she is back with me.” > --- > View my Online Portfolio at: > > http://www.onemodelplace.com/CaraQuinn > > Follow me on Twitter! > > https://twitter.com/ModelCara > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "MacVisionaries" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MacVisionaries" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
