‘I thought I was going to die’: Female hiker, 74, who spun 174 TIMES during helicopter rescue says she did ‘deep-breathing exercises to keep from passing out as blood rushed to her eyeballs’
- George Metro said his wife, 74-year-old Katalin Metro, is still recovering after she fell at Piestewa Peak on Tuesday
- He explained that the two were nearing the end of their hiking trip when Katalin stubbed her toe and fell face down
- She broke her nose and her glasses but also injured her hand and her leg was bleeding
- Emergency crews decided to airlift the injured woman after she complained of hip pain
- While she was being airlifted, the stretcher began spinning out of control
- George shared that his wife did deep-breathing exercises so that she could keep from passing out
- ‘The first thing she said was, “I’m glad I’m alive.” She thought she was going to die when she was spinning,’ the husband said
- Katalin is still in bed as she is too dizzy to even do physical therapy for her leg
The husband of a woman who was on a stretcher that spun out of control while she was being airlifted in Arizona has shared that his wife hasn’t been able to complete any of her physical therapy because she is still ‘too dizzy.’
George Metro said that his wife, 74-year-old Katalin Metro, is still recovering after she fell at Piestewa Peak on Tuesday.
He explained that the two were nearing the end of their hiking trip when Katalin stubbed her toe and fell face down. She broke her nose and her glasses but also injured her hand and her leg was bleeding.
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George Metro said that his wife, 74-year-old Katalin Metro, is still recovering after she fell at Piestewa Peak on Tuesday
Emergency crews decided to airlift the injured woman after she complained of hip pain. They didn’t want to make any injury worse, 12News reports.
As she was being lifted from the ground, the stretcher started violently spinning.
And as Katalin endured her horrifying journey, George watched with shocked firefighters who could not believe what was happening.
‘They just—one of them said, “Oh my gosh,” Metro said. ‘I think they were waiting for the spinning to stop just like I was.’
George wasn’t sure if his wife was alive or dead as she spun.
He explained that the two were nearing the end of their hiking trip when Katalin stubbed her toe and fell face down. She broke her nose and her glasses but also injured her hand and her leg was bleeding
Emergency crews decided to airlift the injured woman after she complained of hip pain
He was relieved when he met her at the trauma center where she was getting evaluated.
‘The first thing she said was, “I’m glad I’m alive.” She thought she was going to die when she was spinning,’ the husband said.
George shared that his wife did deep-breathing exercises so that she could keep from passing out.
He added: ‘The blood was going to her head and eyeballs.’
Katalin is still in bed as she is too dizzy to even do physical therapy for her leg.
George shared that his wife did deep-breathing exercises so that she could keep from passing out
Derek Geisel, who was piloting the helicopter during the rescue claimed that the line attached to the basket eventually broke and stopped working.
The spinning lasted for 40 seconds as the crew tried several times to raise and lower the basket.
‘When they start to lower the load, [the basket] does actually start to stop. And then we slowly brought it back up, it gets into the same downwash from the aircraft and it started to spin again.’
‘Once we got the forward flight, the spin got to the point where they were safely able to bring the patient up to the aircraft,’ Geisel said.
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