“I feel like the luckiest woman in the world!”
Jen Edwards was hiking when she fell 60 feet into a creek, suffering numerous injuries. The odds were against her surviving, let alone being found. But thanks to her Goldendoodle, a GPS satellite communicator and dedicated rescuers, she is safe today!
Hiking down a sundappled path of Oregon’s Illinois River Trail, Jen Edwards paused to snap a photo.
Ever since she was a girl, Jen had been going camping with her dad, and she loved hiking. But this hike would be accomplished solo.
Normally, Jen wasn’t a risktaker. But after enduring a series of panic attacks, she longed to do something to prove to herself that she was strong.
That morning, kissing her fiancé, Matt, and twoyear-old daughter, Hadley, goodbye, Jen had felt butterflies of anxiety and excitement. But now, Jen smiled down at her beloved Goldendoodle, Ruben.
“Well, I’m not completely alone, am I?” she cooed.
Soon, though, as the Vancouver, Washington, mom approached the mouth of Silver Creek about 10 miles into her journey, her foot slipped— and suddenly, she was tumbling over an embankment, plummeting 60 feet to the water below . . .
SOS!
Landing
face down at the edge of the creek, intense pain throbbed in every cell of Jen’s body as cold water seeped through her clothes.
Trying not to panic about the blood coming from her head, Jen reached for the Inreach device—a handheld satellite communicator, with GPS, texting capability and a direct line to emergency responders —she had tied around her neck.
After hitting the S.O.S. button, she texted Matt, SOS Bad. And on Facebook, she posted: Help!
Then, despite her back being in agony and the numbness in her left hand and arm, Jen crawled out of the creek, as she heard Ruben’s frightened cries from above.
“Stay!” she croaked, terrified the two-year-old pup would get hurt if he came to her.
Jen had adopted Ruben when he was two months old. He’d grown up poking his nose between the slats of Hadley’s crib, watching over her as she slept. And he went with Jen to the animal hospital where she worked in HR.
I won’t leave you alone! Ruben seemed to call. And, crouching low, he slid down the embankment, rushing to Jen and licking her face as if to say: I’m here, Mama!
Thanks to the tracking device, an emergency dispatcher pinpointed Jen’s location. Still, she was in such an isolated spot that getting to her would be difficult. Then, she’d need to be carried up the embankment to a clearing to be airlifted. So rescuers took off on foot and in helicopters; one, Ryan Mcginnis, set out on an electric bike.
Meanwhile, as Jen lay trembling from cold and pain, Ruben climbed on top of her, warming her like a furry blanket—until they heard a rustle in the bushes.
Jen gasped in fear, seeing a flash of black fur—and Ruben ran up the trail barking, scaring off the bear, then ran back to guard Jen. As hours passed and night fell, Jen thought about her family. Will I ever see them again? she wept.
After trying for nine years, then being told she’d never have children, Jen had Hadley. If she died, she knew Matt and her parents would show Hadley pictures and tell her she was loved. But will she even remember she had a mom?
Still, whenever despair took hold, Ruben would gently stroke her with his paw or her device would sound a comforting chirp.
If anybody can get through this, it’s you! Facebook friends messaged via the Inreach. And dozens of texts poured in from Matt. I love you. Stay strong! I love you, too, Jen managed to type back, the words giving her hope and strength. I have to fight! she told herself.
Amazing rescue
It
was near midnight— seven hours since her fall—when Ryan reached Jen. After attending to her injuries as best he could, he sat with her, keeping her awake by talking about their lives.
The next morning, as a Coast Guard helicopter began to circle, Ruben ran to a high rock, his golden fur a beacon to find them.
By the time Jen was safely aboard, 22 agonizing hours had passed. At the hospital, she was treated for a concussion, a broken hand and a broken neck. But her heart broke, too, because she had been parted from Ruben.
“Don’t worry. They’re taking good care of him!” Matt promised.
In fact, because Ruben’s paws were raw with wounds, rescuers carried the 90-pound pup back to camp to be treated. And soon after, when Jen was ready to go home, Matt arrived with Ruben.
There you are, Mama! he seemed to smile, and Jen threw her arms around him.
Today, Jen and Ruben are back on their feet.
“That I’m alive—that I get to hold my daughter and hear her laugh . . . every day, I count my blessings,” Jen marvels. “Ruben, that rescue device and Ryan were my lifelines. I feel like the luckiest woman in the world!”