Quick Update

First of all, thanks for all the prayers we know are received. I'm going to make this update quick and dirty since I have a hard time thinking about it and I want to get back to Mason. I also don't know if every detail is completely accurate but this is the way I understand it.

Yesterday afternoon my dad and Marshall took the two boys hiking at Boundary Bay in Waterton. It is a short flat trail that you access through a boat ride and goes for a mile or so and crosses over a creek. They were hiking along and when they got close to the creek the boys stopped and Mason held my dad's hand while Myles held Marshall's. My dad and Mason were in front and to get onto the bridge (just two cut logs with a hand rail on one side) you have to step on a rock. Mason and my dad both stepped on the rock and Mason was so excited to see the water that he jumped up onto the bridge. He slipped, causing my dad to loose his balance and Mason spun around causing my dad to loose the grip on his hand. Mason fell about 30 feet into a waterfall (the creek was very high during this time of the season), hitting his head on the way down and started moving swiftly downstream. Marshall quickly gave Myles to my dad and jumped in after Mason trying to get to him. My dad started running along the shore downstream to get to him but realized the current was carrying him faster than he could run, so my dad turned back and ran back on the trail to the boat. On the way he called my mom on the cell phone and told her to meet us at the dock with emergency personnel. When he got in the boat there was a woman walking by who said she knew CPR (she was a part-time swimming instructor) and jumped in with him to help. They went out into the bay where the creek empties and a few hundred feet out he saw Marshall floating and yelling for help and then saw a flash of white (Mason's shirt) about 10 feet away. Mason and Marshall were in the water for about 10-15 minutes and for at least 10 of that Mason was floating face down. My dad quickly went to Mason and pulled him in while Marshall climbed in the back of the boat. Both Marshall and the nurse administered CPR on the way and when they got to the dock my mom and I were waiting.

Somehow along the way some good friends in Waterton noticed the chaos and called a doctor who was down getting into his boat and a few off duty nurses and paramedics came to help. As they worked on Mason on the dock my dad ran to my and told me briefly what happened. At that point everyone involved thought he was gone. Because the Waterton ambulance had already left town to get to a car accident, we had to wait about 40 minutes for the ambulances to come from Cardston. After about 5 people were working on Mason, someone realized Marshall was still in the boat and couldn't stand up and looked horrible. They got him off the boat and treated him for shock and hypothermia. Sometime while waiting for the ambulence Mason cried a little which everyone celebrated as a good sign.

There was a lot of confusion when the paramedics arrived. We were told that Marshall would be taken by ambulance to the Cardston hospital and Mason would be going by life-flight to the Kalispell, Montana hospital. When Mason's ambulance left we left to meet it at the helipad, where we were told that they took him straight to Cardston instead. So my mom and I drove there, where we were told that they actually took him to Pincher Creek and then were going to life-flight him to the Alberta Children's Hospital in Calgary. So we quickly stopped by my grandparents and borrowed their cell-phone so we could know if he was alive or dead during the trip. On the road to Calgary we called my dad who said that Marshall refused to go to the hospital in the ambulance because he wanted to stay with Mason and they were headed to Pincher Creek with Myles to meet Mason before the flight. They had a good hour there waiting with Mason while they prepped him for the flight and I was able to talk on the phone to the ER doctor who sounded like he thought Mason was a trooper and might be okay.

My mom and I got to the Calgary hospital right after they brought Mason in. He did well on the flight. That was last night about 8 and since then he has been on a ventilator doing the breathing for him and is sedated and was given a paralytic so he won't move around and pull out the tubes and/or hurt any other bone that might be broken/organ that might be damaged. He has had a number of chest x-rays, each looking better than the last, and his blood oxygen continues to improve. My main concern was the gash on his head and a head injury, but the CT scan showed an amazingly wonderful little brain with no damage which is truly a miracle. His little body looks surprisingly well with almost no bruises or scratches. They are keeping his body temperature low so his heart doesn't have to work so hard.

As far as prognosis, we are not completely out of the woods yet but the nurse said she rarely sees a drowning victim survive, much less improve over 24 hours so we are hopeful. When the sedation wears off he tries to move and sit up and opens his eyes and is calmed by his mommy and daddy talking to him which is another very good sign. We will likely be here at least a week if everything goes perfectly, much longer if not. There is a chance that when he is more stable they will transport him back to Utah but we just want the best care for him wherever we get it.

Marshall is very bruised and scratched and until recently had to use a wheelchair to get around. He can now walk but is very sore and shaken. He truly saved Mason's life as we never would have found him in that lake had Marshall not been right behind him. It is also very clear by all accounts that 30 more seconds in that water Marshall would definitely not be with us today.

We appreciate all prayers and thoughts on our behalf. In your prayers, in addition to praying for a full recovery please also offer prayers of gratitude that this little boy, submerged in ice-cold glacier water for more than 15 minutes has survived. We have counted endless miracles throughout the last day and there were so many times that if just one tiny thing were different I would have lost both Marshall and Mason.

I'll post major updates here in the future.