Troy's Accident

My Dad’s Accident

By: Kylie Berg

It’s Friday September 11, 2009. The day started out great. My dad and my uncle Tod fixed us a great breakfast in the beautiful Uintah Mountains at Red Castle Rock. We ate breakfast then we made lunches and treat bags to take on our fishing adventure. My dad was so funny about his candy…Dad, TJ and Zach were picking out all the red and pink starburst to have for themselves. You can just imagine my dad with his humor telling us how excited he was to get where we were going to eat his candy after we had already eaten breakfast and may I say he ate the most out of everyone.

At about 10:30 am, we started to saddle the horses and my dad wanted a “teaching moment” for Zach and I. He showed us step by step how to saddle our own horses and I was thinking “When am I EVER going to need to saddle my own horse, DAD??” Of course my dad was being goofy through this “TEACHING MOMENT” to try to make us laugh and have fun.

We were all saddled and on our horses ready for the fun day of fishing. Uncle Tod led our group then TJ, Zach, and I. My dad and Kelsey were behind me and my dad told Kelsey to go ahead of him. My dad’s horse didn’t like to be away from my horse so as Kelsey went by him my dad’s horse started backing up and dad was yelling wo..wo.. And pulling on the reins, the horse reared up, and as I looked back I yelled “DAD!” and the horse then was in the air with my dad still on. The horse then did a turn and fell to the ground, my dad fell of the horse and hit his head on a flat rock that was in the ground. At that point Kelsey yelled for her dad, we jumped off our horses, Tod ran down to my dad to find him laying on the ground not breathing but he did have a pulse which Tod immediately started to do mouth to mouth. During this Kelsey took all the horses and tied them up while I took Zach and TJ behind a tree. I said a prayer to ask Heavenly Farther to help Uncle Tod to get my dad to breathe and keep him alive. We took turns saying prayers and TJ looked over and said “his foot moved!”

Tod sat back after dad was breathing and then told Kelsey to get on her horse and find Dr. Haderlie at the next lake. We knew he was there because we saw his truck at the bottom before we packed in the previous day.

My dad started to move and all of a sudden he started to scream which looked to me like he was in a bad dream because his eyes were closed and he then tried to get up and my Uncle Tod was trying to push him down and not let him get up. My dad is a very strong man and bigger than Tod which was very hard for Tod to control him. As my dad was screaming I covered Zach’s ears so he wouldn’t hear our dad going through all that pain. Zach was upset and I wanted to comfort him the best I could. I am not sure how long this screaming and fighting went on but it seemed a very long time. After we had calmed down a little bit he started throwing up and getting on his hands and knees and holding his head. We tried to put a wrap around his head to stop the bleeding. He did not like that at all and swung at Tod a couple times. We found a rag and placed it on the wound which was on the right side of his head. He didn’t like us putting pressure on it so we just laid it on there.

Kelsey then came back to camp where this was all taking place. She couldn’t find Dr. Haderlie so my uncle Tod said “ I am going to the bottom to get help.” Kelsey and I said that we would not feel comfortable with him not being there with my dad. So Kelsey said she would go down and get help. He gave her a radio and kept one at our camp. Tod told her to call 911 which was Evanston. When she was gone we tried to talk to her using the radios but they did not work so we didn’t know how she was doing. When she got down and called them Evanston told her they could not send a Helicopter unless they had the exact GPS coordinates. So she then called Kam Kohler and he immediately sent for a helicopter.

During that time Kelsey had been gone not knowing how she was my dad kept trying to get up. Tod and I helped him crawl approximately ten feet to a big rock. I went to the tent and grabbed a blanket and put between the rock and his head for support. He elevated himself against the rock to get more comfortable. Tod and I took turns watching my dad and tried to pack up camp so we could get out of there that night.

As I was trying to comfort my poor daddy as he was in so much pain and trying to hold it together, he started to open his eyes more. We would ask him if he was ok or hot and he would just make painful noises. He would go to sleep so Uncle Tod would say “TROY, open your eyes” and he would open them most of the time. He would look at me and I would say “hi daddy” and grab his hand and he would give me a smile. This went on for about three hours. I remember when Tod and I were sitting by him and he put his arm on my leg so I grabbed his hand and looked at him, he opened his eyes and smiled at me painfuly. I was trying so hard to be brave and strong for my dad. I was so scared I was going to lose him but felt the spirit telling me he would be ok and at the moment, for the first time in my life, I felt my Grandma and Grandpa Berg near me. I also remember my dad grabbing Uncle Tod’s leg a couple times and looking up at him, again with a painful smile on his face. During this time Zach and TJ were down in the open area looking for a place the helicopter could land.

It is now around 4:00pm we finally heard the helicopter and we both praised Kelsey for a job well done. I ran down while Tod stayed with my dad. Zach, TJ, and I were screaming and waving our hats, running in circles so the pilot could spot us. It circled around us about seven times which was about 20 minutes. The pilots finally saw us, but we didn’t know they saw us and just like that the helicopter left!!!! “What the heck did they leave us for????” we all said! I was frustrated and so were Tod and the boys. We walked back up and Dr. Haderlie was sitting there with my Dad and Uncle Tod. I was so very Grateful to see him there because I knew they would give him a Priesthood blessing and they did. Also there were people camping below us that saw the helicopter and they came up to see if we needed help. They stayed with us the remainder of the time.

Tod and I then knew Kelsey had gotten down safe and now we had to think of what we were going to do with my dad because it was starting to get cold. We didn’t know why the helicopter didn’t stop and we didn’t know if it was even going to come back. We waited and hour and half and during that time my dad was going into shock and chilling really bad. We got two sleeping bags and bundled him up in them. Tod and I tried to comfort him and help him stop shaking by pushing on his shoulders and saying “Troy your ok and you’ll be fine, the helicopter is going to come back.” He would just look at us and kind of give us a smile then shut his eyes again and try and relax. Finally after waiting and hour and a half we heard another helicopter. I said “Dad the helicopter is here, you are going to be okay.” This time Tod walked down and I stayed with my dad. I kept saying “I’m so proud of you daddy, hang in there your doing great, everything’s going to be just fine.” Right before the paramedics got to us my dad threw up again. I helped him wipe his face off then sat him back on my blanket that his head was laying on. They finally got to us and I let them take over from there. It took them 30 minutes to get him sedated and the breathing tube down his throat. Uncle Tod, Dr. Haderlie and his brother and the four other men helped carry my dad down the hill on a stretcher to the helicopter.

This was such a relief after watching my dad go through so much pain and trying to hold it together, but knowing that my dad was on his way for medical attention. I had a hard time knowing that I couldn’t go with him in the helicopter and just wondering if he was going to be ok.

We knew we had to stay at camp one more night because it was getting dark. It was hard knowing I wouldn’t see him until the next day. We were so sad that our dad wasn’t there the last night in the Uintahs but I knew I had to be strong for him and my little brother. I was also so grateful that my uncle Tod was there with me to comfort me and for reminding me that my dad would be ok.

To be continued……

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