Close Calls

I’m finally getting to where I can walk normally again. On the fox chase I had a snow machine accident. I went up over the bank of a river, and thought the other side leveled off, but it went straight down and straight back up. I didn’t want to get the snow machine stuck in the narrow valley so I gassed it. I went straight up, 10 feet in the air, and flew 21 feet before I flew off the front of the snow machine and landed, (thankfully,) on soft snow. But the snow machine had to land too, right on top of me! 600 pounds falling on top of me. Ouch. I keep thinking back and count how lucky I was that 1) There were 3 other people there to pull the machine off me and 2) I didn’t get injured badly. We were miles and miles from Newtok, so we couldn’t get a signal on the cell phone. So after Kevin and Travis (Travis is one of my high school students) pulled the snow machine off of me I couldn’t even roll over. My leg was bent back and therefore took most of the blow of the snow machine weight. I blacked out for a short while, and they didn’t want to roll me over because they thought my back was broken. I knew it was just my leg – knee, really, and I couldn’t move it. While they were contemplating on what to do next I just lay there in the snow for about five minutes. When they saw I was going to be okay they were actually pretty impressed with the jump and that’s when Kevin measured the distance I traveled through the air. They helped me on the back of Kevin’s snow machine and my student drove my machine back. No major damage done to the machine – just a really cracked “dashboard” and a damaged oil tank. So after what seemed like forever we made it back to Newtok and Kevin took me to the clinic. The guy there was on the phone to the doctor in Bethel to discuss what to do. I knew it wasn’t anything serious, just pretty banged up. It was already swollen pretty bad and bruised up, but I knew I didn’t need to fly to Bethel for anything less than a tear. I was just thankful the snow machine didn’t land on my head and that the guys were there to save me! Anyway, the guy at the clinic gave me some crutches, ibuprofen, and a couple of instant cold packs. He said “if you need more cold packs there’s always the snow outside.” I was on the crutches for a couple of days and after 2 weeks the swelling is finally going down and I can walk without a limp. It still hurts to turn it but nothing serious. 

In a couple of days I’m traveling to Goodnews Bay with the NYO team. I’m the certified chaperone for Newtok and another school on the island – Nightmute. Grant said it’s likely I’ll see bears and caribou, and I really hope I do! I’ve heard Goodnews Bay is beautiful. I’ll definitely take the camera. My only concern is if we get weathered here. I finally saw my first blizzard a couple of nights ago and it was outrageous! Winds were 80 to 90 mph and our house was shaking! We had another snow storm last night, but I hope everything is calm when it comes time to leave. We’re scheduled to leave Thursday at noon and to return Saturday afternoon.

There is a man from Newtok who tried to travel to another village before the blizzard came and he never made it. The search and rescue team has been looking for him for 2 days now and we’re all hoping they find him! People have been lost for days and have survived, so I’m hopeful. Every time I go out on the snow machine I learn something new, and I see every time the necessity for safety and doing things right. I’m typically the kind of person to just jump in and go for it if it sounds like fun. But it can cost you your life out here. When I was away from the village and got stuck on a snow drift I learned you need to take a shovel with you when you’re far from the village. When I hear about the people’s stories of how they were riding, and the next minute it’s a white-out, you need to be prepared. Have a beacon on you and carry a compass, take energy bars with you in case something happens. I’ve learned some things through trial and error, and I’m just thankful God allowed me to survive those errors!

Hope yall are doing well, I can’t wait to see everyone! And don’t worry about me, I’m doing fine!

In His Grip,

Kim