Originally Posted by SwtBadger

Been away for a while, the above weather almost took my 78 year old dad out.


He was sleeping in a tent and while the storm had passed, the wet soil couldn't support a nearby tree which fell and pinned him. By grace or fate one other pair of campers had at the spur of the moment decided to also camp that night at the rustic walk-in site. They eventually heard him, called 911 and the fire department had to cut apart the tree to get him out.


He was taken to the University of WI hospital where due to loss of blood, 20 minutes of CPR saved his life.


While incredibly unlucky in the initial event, incredibly lucky afterwards if those other campers hadn't been there or if he hadn't been near one of two "Trama 1" hospital in the state likely wouldn't of survived. Its also quite possibly that the actual weight of the tree, greatly reduced the blood loss until he was extracted.


In addition my mother was sleeping in their van (not near the campsite) as the tent was somewhat wet so that it couldn't sleep two comfortably. She is of a small frame and would never have survived such a hit.


Been a long time in the hospital, but is now in rehab facility with lots of recovery still ahead. Memory and personality are there which was quite a concern with the period of CPR. While required, its amazing (in a bad way) the amount of damage created by CPR and other lifesaving necessities. Broken ribs, severe bruising etc are just for starters.


...Thanks for listening, probably wouldn't have mentioned it but for the banter on the storms that day.