Ed Boles

Ed Boles March 2, 2003

Dan!

I greatly appreciate Jerry’s effort to keep me informed about your remarkable recovery. The relief of having heard such news is not measurable. That was certainly a life changing day for me, having experienced what is nothing less than divine intervention. There has not been scarcely a waking (and sometimes sleeping) hour that I have not thought about you, from our discussion about jaguars, ISP ideas and current events of the world around the campfire, pushing you to the surface of the water and seeing hands stretched to pull you out, the moment of your first breath, the helicopter finally carrying you away, coming to terms with the experience as a group afterwards.

As your father builds the details of this most remarkable miracle, I should add my perspective. I remember running over the rocks as students screamed for me. As I arrived at the edge of the river, Frank told me that you had been pulled down in the river. I dove in and snorkeled across the river below the plunge pool, hoping that you may have been pushed out. Not seeing you, I climbed to the opposite bank, scrambled to the river bank across from the falls and dove in, hoping that the current would sweep me across the bottom. As I dove down, maybe twelve or fourteen feet, I saw you lying on your back on the bottom against a rock. I grabbed you as I was swept past, pulled you up and pushed you toward the surface as I swam back to the opposite shore. As I swam, I looked into your eyes. Your pupils were completely dilated and your lips blue. I suspected the worst. As I reached the bank, hands were there waiting. Someone jumped in and helped me push you up as others assisted, getting you onto the rock. I was exhausted and I remember Amy and Frank starting CPR. Frank took over , announcing his background as an EMT Basic. I sent my two Belizean students, Julio Reyes and Abigail Parham, whom I knew could follow the trail back to the camp and the phone to alert someone that we needed to get help. An eternity of minutes passed as they worked with you and then you breathed!

I realized that you were in the best possible hands as others began to assist in every way possible, providing shade, towels, getting paper and pen to record your vitals readings. I consulted quickly with Frank and informed him that I was going up the hill to make sure that help was coming and to get the inflatable kayak to use as a stretcher. Climbing up I met William (from Che chem Ha) and asked him to grab the kayak and carry it down. He immediately turned around and went for the kayak, leaving me free to deal with the need to get help. Once at the top of the hill, I was updated by students that accompanied Julio and Abigal up the hill at first. I was told that Jerry had been called and that the BATSUB unit had been contacted but were calling back in a few minutes to confirm. I waited anxiously for their return call and then headed back down the hill with poles, a hammock and machete (just in case). When I arrived, you had already been placed in the kayak moaning and clinching in pain, but breathing and very much alive. All of the students were working together to provide you with shade, water, rubbing your legs and arms, encouraging you, talking to you, doing what they could to keep you from going into extreme shock.

We waited for what seemed to be a much longer time than it actually was for the helicopter to travel from Ladyville to Vaca Falls. After a point, as others stayed beside you and shaded you and as Julio and Abigal gathered up feed sacks to flag the helicopter when it did come, I told the group that I was going back up to see check on communications and ensure myself that the helicopter was indeed on its way. Half way back up the hill (a good twenty to twenty-five minute climb), I heard the helicopter and turned around. Once beside you again, I waited as the military doctor and an assistant climbed out of the machine, the helicopter lifted off and landed upstream in a more open area and the doctor decided to swim over. Others helped get gear brought over as I caught my breath. Once you were stabilized with oxygen and an IV in your arm, we swam you and the kayak over to the opposite side of the river where the helicopter had first landed and pulled you up the hill to a safe spot. Frank and I had a brief discussion concerning if he or I should go with you. Given that Jerry was at the hospital to meet you and that Frank was the principal first aid provider, he and I decided that he should go, leaving me to pull the group together and work our way back up the hill.

We waited well down slope as the helicopter landed and you were loaded. When the helicopter lifted off, we all swam back to the opposite bank and gathered together on a rock to regroup. Some cried, some sat silently and others offered reassurance. We were all exhausted with fear and physical and mental fatigue. After a short rest, we made our way back up the hill before dark. Jerry had offered to get the group back to San Ignacio whenever they wanted to leave. Once in dry clothes and gathered in the dining thatch, we began a group discussion that carried on around the fire. We decided that we would just rest that night and hold a group discussion at breakfast the next morning before leaving.

This was an incredible group of people who pulled together, each doing what we could to assist in any way. That day we were a team like few groups ever become. Kimo Jolly arrived and met with students and me. He helped to make plans for the group and worked out details with Jerry. The next morning we had a group discussion about how we felt and came to a consensus that all the students wanted to stay in San Ignacio a couple of days to phone or e-mail family and to just allow each to work through this experience and to wait for further information about you.

After the students were dropped off in San Ignacio and checked into a hotel. I was dropped off at my house in Camalote. Later that night, Jerry called to tell me that you were in stable condition but in a coma and was being air-evacuated to Houston at 10:00 am. He and others encouraged me to still attend the Neo-Tropical Forest meeting at the University of Florida. I was to be traveling at 5:30 am the next day. So I packed, passed a restless night and left on a jet the following morning, not knowing what your outcome was to be. After a long travel day and another sleepless night (I kept seeing your face as I pushed you out of the water), my wife called to tell me that you were out of the coma, sitting up and talking! I cannot explain how relieved that phone call made me feel. But I can tell you that I finally slept well that night.

As for me personally, my life is changed. I have witnessed divine intervention that has touched the lives of many people who were pulling for you. And as for you, you are a miracle and also you must be a strong fighter. You must also have a very important purpose to fulfill before you leave this Earth. Good luck to you and do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or if you just want to drop me a line and let me know how you are doing.