Backyard ordeal metres from home
Bruised, sunburnt and dehydrated, Denise Rowden, 74, was determined not to spend another night lying outside on stoney ground after falling down.
The iron-willed Eketa¯huna retiree endured a 21⁄2-day ordeal earlier this month after stumbling while spraying weeds on the morning of February 4 at her hilltop property, 2 kilometres from town.
She has had two strokes and falling down had been a problem in recent months. She usually wears her personal alarm pendant but on that day, she had taken it off for a scan and forgotten to put it back on.
‘‘I just haven’t got the strength in my back to get myself up,’’ she said.
Lying on golfball-sized stones, she waited in the beating sun for help. ‘‘I was yelling every now and then, hoping someone would hear me, but it was utterly useless.’’
As the hours dragged on, Rowden knew she might have to spend a night in the open.
Fortunately, it was not cold while she lay there looking at the stars, nursing sunburn on her legs and back.
Mercifully,
the
weather
on
Wednesday was overcast and Rowden decided to hatch a plan. ‘‘I was halfway through the second day and I was starting to think about my survival and sanity. Nobody was coming so I
Denise Rowden
decided to put a plan into action.’’
First, she rolled over to the edge of the house in a bid to use a downpipe to haul herself to her feet. Nope.
Next, she rolled over to some steps with a rail and a low brick fence. She couldn’t get up using those either.
From the new vantage point, she could see the garage door was open and she rolled inch-by-inch to the house.
By nightfall she was able to get inside but in a state of neardelirium in the dark, she couldn’t find the door handle in the laundry to get through to the main part of the house, where she knew she could reach a phone.
Rowden was still lying on the floor when her son Mark turned up by chance on Thursday and
‘‘I was halfway through the second day and I was starting to think about my survival and sanity. Nobody was coming ...’’
found her in a terrible state. ‘‘It was an immense relief to feel that my ordeal was almost over.’’
With the help of a fellow volunteer firefighter, they got her upright and Mark helped clean her up before the ambulance arrived.
Rowden spent a few nights in the high-dependency unit in Masterton at Wairarapa Hospital before being put on the ward to recuperate.
Now she is through the other side, Rowden is kicking herself for not remembering to wear her St John emergency pendant. ‘‘This is a word of warning to remember your helps and aids that you should be using.’’
Rowden has also decided to move to a more manageable property in a larger town.