Latest news with #ZaneWach
Daily Mail
5 hours ago
- Health
- Daily Mail
Father reveals son's haunting last words before altitude sickness made him hallucinate and walk off 120-foot cliff
A 14-year-old California boy remains in a coma after telling his father he saw 'snowmen' and 'Kermit the frog' before walking straight off a 120-foot cliff during a hike on Mount Whitney earlier this month. Ryan Wach, the boy's father, who witnessed the fall, said his teenage son was just out of reach when he fell off the side of the cliff and there was nothing he could do to prevent the fall. Moments earlier, Zane Wach of Santa Clarita, had begun hallucinating and starting speaking nonsense. 'He told me he couldn't tell if he was dreaming or not.' said Ryan. 'And then he said he was going to the car. But the car was thousands of feet below us.' The trouble began on June 10 as the pair summited the 14,505-foot peak of California's Mount Whitney, the tallest peak in the continental United States. Zane suddenly starting feeling the affects of altitude sickness. Despite briefly seeming to recover, Zane's mental state suddenly deteriorated, culminating in a series of alarming statements before he wandered off the trail and plummeted over the side of the steep granite cliff. 'It was in the direction of the ledge. He thought it was right there, like the hike was over. I wiped my eyes for a second, and when I looked up, he was already 10 feet away. I reached out - but I couldn't get to him. And then he was gone.' The fall left Zane with a traumatic brain injury and happened as the pair had begun their descent via the Mount Whitney Trail, hours after completing the technically demanding Mountaineer's Route. Aside from altitude sickness, Zane had been suffering from exhaustion and what doctors suspect was a dangerous combination of dehydration and sleep deprivation. Earlier on the trail, Ryan said Zane began claiming they had already finished the hike 'multiple times,' and appeared unable to distinguish dreams from reality. 'He started to experience some hallucinations,' Ryan told SFGate. 'He said, like those snow patches down there, they look like snowmen. Or those green lakes in the distance, I see Kermit the Frog and his friends and a few other random things.' He later refused to continue walking telling his father, 'This is not real.' 'I've never seen anything like it,' Ryan said. 'He wasn't making sudden movements, but it was like he was sleepwalking. I didn't trust what he might do. 'He told me he couldn't tell if he was dreaming,' Ryan explained. 'He'd shake his head and say, "This isn't real. I don't think this is really happening." Like he was stuck in the movie Inception or something.' Ryan said Zane's awareness of the hallucinations initially gave him some comfort. 'He was aware of it, which of course worried me, but he was still able to explain what was happening,' Ryan said. 'I thought, OK, maybe it'll pass.' But the clarity didn't last and suddenly Zane decided he simply wanted to stop. 'He's not a quitter. That's not him,' Ryan said. 'But then he just stopped. He said he didn't want to go on. It got worse - more frequent. He truly believed none of it was real.' The teen, who is nearly 5'9' and in peak physical condition having competed in triathlons, swimming, and distance running. As his father put it: 'He's in better shape than I am.' Zane had no history of mental health issues and had successfully hiked with his father before, but the combination of high altitude and physical stress appears to have pushed him into a dangerous dissociative state. The two reached Trail Camp, six miles from the base and rested for a while. Zane appeared to improve but then he began to unravel. 'He was worse than before,' Ryan told The Independent. 'He almost seemed like he was sleepwalking. He started dragging his feet and stopped in his tracks,' Ryan said. 'He didn't want to go on.' Then came the surreal comments. 'He told me we'd already finished the hike multiple times over,' Ryan said. 'He was shaking his head, like he was in disbelief. Like he was in a dream he couldn't wake up from. 'He told me he was going to get dinner,' Ryan recalled. 'That's when I realized he didn't know where he was anymore. Ryan initially thought both of them were going to continue the descent - until his son veered toward the drop. 'He made a couple of efforts to walk toward the edge. I didn't know what he was going to do. He's big - five-nine, almost 15. I couldn't physically control him,' Ryan went on. Several hikers passed by during this time, including a woman named Ariana, a trained EMT, who stopped to help and assess the situation. She too, became concerned. 'Suddenly he was already 10 feet away, heading straight for the drop,' Ryan said. 'I lunged, but he was just out of reach and he'd stepped off the ledge.' After the fall, Ryan scrambled down the jagged terrain to reach Zane's body, convinced his son had died on impact. 'I didn't see how there would be a way for him to survive it, so I screamed,' he said. 'I was yelling "No!" I thought he was gone.' But when he reached Zane's body, miraculously there were still signs of life. 'I rolled him over and he grunted. He was still breathing.' The EMT who had passed by the pair earlier rushed to help, coordinating a rescue operation while Ryan remained with his unconscious son for a further six hours until a rescue helicopter arrived. Zane was flown first to Southern Inyo Hospital in Lone Pine and then on to Sunrise Children's Hospital in Las Vegas, the closest facility with a pediatric trauma unit, where he remains in a medically induced coma. Miraculously, doctors say his only other injuries were a broken ankle, a fractured finger, and a fractured section of his pelvis. 'Doctors said it's miraculous,' Ryan said. 'It should have been so much worse.' GoFundMe campaign for Zane's medical expenses has raised more than $21,000. 'He's improving,' Ryan said. 'His eyes opened yesterday. But he still has a long way to go.
The Independent
8 hours ago
- Health
- The Independent
Devastated California teen hiker's dad recalls haunting remark before son plunged off cliff: ‘This was not reality'
A 14-year-old California boy was left in a medically induced coma after he walked off a 120-foot slope while climbing Mount Whitney earlier this month. Ryan Wach, an adept hiker and mountaineer, and his son Zane, took to the mountain on June 10, and opted for an advanced trail. While it was Zane's first time on Mount Whitney, his dad told The Independent that he wasn't worried give his son's athletic ability and hiking experience. After completing the hardest part of their trek, Zane started exhibiting signs of altitude sickness, so Ryan began navigating them back down an easier route to the trailhead. Zane's altitude sickness started off 'not too severe' and included symptoms like nausea and fatigue, his dad said. But things took a scary turn as they were trying to make their way back down the mountain. 'He said he was starting to see things, like hallucinating, which of course worried me, but he was aware of it,' Ryan said. 'He said, like those snow patches down there, they look like snowmen, or those green lakes that are in the distance, I see Kermit the Frog and his friends and a few other random things.' But the dad wasn't prepared for what happened next as his seemingly sleepwalking son veered towards the edge of the trail before plunging 120 feet. 'He wasn't, like, making any sudden moves, but, you know, I didn't trust him,' Ryan said. 'I didn't know what he was going to do. And he's big enough and everything. He's, he's five nine, he's he's not like a little 14 year old. He's almost 15, so I can't control him physically, but I, you know, I was reaching the point of desperation where I was trying to fight back tears, and I rub my eyes, and when I open them he's 10 feet away on the edge,' he added. 'I made a motion to try to grab him, but this time he was too far from me.' Earlier in the descent, Ryan had encouraged has son to take a nap, hoping that he'd just over-exerted himself and needed a break. While it briefly helped, giving them enough time to reach to a point where he assumed his son would feel better, Zane's condition worsened. After about an hour, having reached Mount Whitney's Trail Camp, the teen began to drag his feet and stopped in his tracks, telling his dad he didn't want to go on. 'It was weird for him to say any of that. He's not a quitter,' Ryan said. 'It then got worse and more frequent. The point that it became even more concerning was when he admitted he didn't know if he was dreaming.' Ryan had to repeatedly tell his son he was not dreaming, while reassuring him they would reach their car in a few hours if he continued moving. Zane refused to move further and started arguing with his dad that 'this was not reality,' Ryan recalled. Thinking he needed more rest, he instructed his son to take another nap since it had helped him feel better previously. However, he woke up 'worse than before' and almost seemed to be sleepwalking, Ryan said. 'He was really, really pushing against me that this wasn't real and a couple of times during the interaction made efforts to walk toward the edge,' he said. 'I was already quite scared at this point in time. I never encountered this sort of behavior in the mountains or let alone from him, in any any circumstance, from him.' At this point, several other hikers had passed by, including an EMT who stopped to try and help figure out what was wrong. Soon after, Zane, having already come close, walked off the steep slope. Ryan ran down to where he had landed, which he said was about 120 feet below where he fell, thinking he was dead. 'I didn't see how there would be a way for him to survive it, so I screamed. I was yelling 'no',' Ryan said. When he ran down to his son, he 'rolled him over and he grunted - he was still breathing.' The same EMT who helped earlier immediately started assess Zane's condition and coordinate rescue efforts. Meanwhile, Wach stayed by his son's side for six hours until rescue teams arrived and flew him to the hospital. As of Thursday, Zane remains in a medically induced coma at Sunrise Children's Hospital in Las Vegas. 'He is improving, he has gotten through a lot of the woods, as you might say. He was extubated today, his eyes were open, but he still has a long way to go,' Ryan said. Aside from sustaining trauma to his head, the teen only broke an ankle, a finger, and part of his pelvis. A GoFundMe set up to help the family had raised over $20,000 as of Thursday. While Zane's family hopes he will make a full recovery, they are also incredibly moved by all of the help they received throughout the journey. 'I mean, really, a lot of the story is about and his survival is absolutely accredited to all these people being there and either doing their job, or, even more so, doing something that wasn't their job and just being there to help and go out of their way,' Ryan said. 'He's a fantastic kid. This is a survival story. This is, a triumphant recovery, is what he will have. It's not a tragedy.'
