Walker who fell 30ft is reunited with hero team
A TERRIFIED walker who thought he was going to die after falling off a remote cliff has been reunited with the medical team who saved him.
Ged Dunsmore suffered a broken collar bone, three broken ribs, punctured lungs and a broken pelvis when he fell 30ft on to a beach on Iona.
He had to crawl across the beach to get away from the rising water.
As Ged prepared himself for death, he was eventually discovered by a fellow walker, and he was soon rescued by a team of paramedics.
He was reunited with air ambulance staff Danny Kerr and Julie Cathcart a week after calling the BBC’s Stephen Jardine programme to tell his story.
Ged said: “It took five hours for an American chap to spot me.
“It is through him and the support from the ambulance crew that I am here today.
“I really wanted to thank the people who actually saved my life.”
Turning to Danny and Julie, he said: “I’d just like BY MICHAEL PRINGLE michael.pringle@reachplc.com to thank you both for the care and attention you and your colleagues administered to me.
“I am really here today thanks to those efforts and dedication. I wasn’t meant to die that day.”
Danny replied: “It was an absolute pleasure. That’s why we do the job.
“Ged, you played your part in getting yourself away from the low tide mark. That was a heroic effort.”
Ged can remember the moment he fell in 2016.
He said: “I could hear the sound of my clothes dragging down the rocks and it seemed like such a long time on the way down.
“I was just so tired I couldn’t even think.
“I had reconciled that I was on an isolated beach and it was getting late. There wasn’t much hope for me.”
Julie told Stephen Jardine: “Very rarely do we get to hear how they got on and how they are when they got home.
“It’s nice to see him doing well.”