Hi Mark, Just want to say that thinking of you and Amy and the two dogs. Hanging there mate, it will be a long recovery for Amy, but she'll make it.
Joanne Chua The flip side of Inclusion is Exclusion. Leaders For Tomorrow 2013 Candidate Send from my iPad > On 27 Oct 2013, at 17:21, Mark BurningHawk Baxter <markbaxte...@gmail.com> > wrote: > > If the "him, "in question is me, HOK, we are already friends, and I believe I > am also friends with almost everyone here. If I am not online, I am away, and > will get back to you as soon as I can. > > The good news, however small, is that Amy did move a very little of both her > arms and legs today. > > Thanks again for everyone who showing their support. It is a long road ahead > for Amy, she needs all the encouraging she can to get her back to walking and > driving again. > > Sent from my iPhone > > Messengers and Skype: BurningHawk1969 > My home page: http://MarkBurningHawk.net > Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/markburninghawk.baxter > > >> On Oct 26, 2013, at 6:46 PM, eric oyen <eric.o...@gmail.com> wrote: >> >> 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 markbaxte...@gmail.com >>> >>> 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 macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. >>> To post to this group, send email to macvisionaries@googlegroups.com. >>> 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 macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. >> To post to this group, send email to macvisionaries@googlegroups.com. >> 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 macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > To post to this group, send email to macvisionaries@googlegroups.com. > 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. 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