Hiker Aron Ralston Cuts Off Own Arm to Survive
Scott Willoughby
Mountain Zone
May 2, 2003
GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. - With no water and as little hope of survival, Aspen mountaineer Aron Ralston, 27, used a pocketknife to amputate his own arm and free himself from a boulder weighing 800-1,000 pounds that fell and trapped him for five days in a remote desert canyon in eastern Utah.Pinned in a 3-foot wide slot canyon near the Maze District of Canyonlands National Park south of Moab, Utah, Ralston cut through his own arm below the elbow Thursday morning, applying a tourniquet and administering first aid before rigging anchors and fixing a rope to rappel to the bottom of Blue John Canyon and hiking out to meet rescuers. Ralston had been hiking alone when the boulder fell and pinned his right arm as he was moving through the narrow slot last Saturday afternoon, according to information from the sheriff's offices in Emery and Wayne counties."Ralston cut through his own arm below the elbow Thursday..." Ralston told rescuers that on Thursday morning he realized he would not survive unless he took drastic action. He had run out of water on Tuesday.Search efforts that had begun Wednesday evening yielded no signs of the hiker until he walked out of the canyon with two other hikers at about 3 p.m. Thursday. Ralston was taken to Allen Memorial Hospital in Moab where he was stabilized before transport to St. Mary's Hospital in Grand Junction, Colo., for surgery.The episode marked Ralston's second brush with death since February, when he was buried in an avalanche while backcountry skiing in the Colorado Rockies. Ralston, an avid outdoorsman who has climbed 49 of Colorado's 14,000-foot-plus mountains, was buried up to his neck in the avalanche, managing to dig himself out along with a completely buried skiing companion within 15 minutes.
Ralston's pocketknife amputation was not the first in the region. In October 1993, Colorado fisherman Bill Jeracki cut off his leg at the knee when two boulders fell on his leg while angling alone in a remote canyon stream. Trapped and yelling for hours, Jeracki made the decision to sever the limb after the weather took a turn for the worse and he became concerned for his survival. He used hemostats from his fishing kit to close the severed artery and vein, then crawled a half mile back to his truck and drove to find help.
Scott Willoughby

I don't have a great deal to say about Mr. Ralston because words could never do justice. What I will say is how amazed I am by his courage to live. I think this is in many of us but we need to find it. I also believe that the courage to be alive spiritually is in us as well, that too may be something we have to go in search of but the light is not far away, it is near. We can discover this courage within only when we are submerged in God and his word.
Philippians 4:13
13 I can do everything through him who gives me strength.

Posted by JD Lusan |

Is it possible to pray today and have your prayers answered tomorrow? It sure is, however, our prayers would be answered a lot quicker and more often if we continue to pray consistently. I think it is also important to consider just how many times we give up on our dreams, our futures, and worst our prayers. We in turn give up on God.

Luke 18
The Parable of the Persistent Widow

1 Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. 2 He said: "In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared about men. 3 And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, 'Grant me justice against my adversary.'
4 "For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, 'Even though I don't fear God or care about men, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won't eventually wear me out with her coming!' "
6 And the Lord said, "Listen to what the unjust judge says. 7 And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? 8 I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?"

This scripture really shows the importance of us being persistent in our prayers with God. We must continue to "cry out to him day and night" to prove our faith in him. He cares for us and as a father he wants hear from us. I truly believe that spiritual growth is found in the word and in prayer.

Be persistent in prayer.

Posted by JD Lusan |

It is so interesting just how often great things happen in my life and they go ignored and I look at the next day as if the world were against me, and low and behold the same thing happens, things go my way, for the most part.

The bible says in John 1:16, “From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another.” Like me many people are not always aware of this. We sometimes pay no attention to the fact that God has provided for our needs and desires. I am learning how grateful I should be for the fact that God just keeps on giving regardless of whether we notice it or not. God does not give with conditions. He gives to us and blesses us because of his grace. My prayer is that we will grow in our awareness of God and his grace.

I hope that the things I share on this site will be both inspiring and fun. Have an open mind and an open heart.

Posted by JD Lusan |

I guess I can relate to this guy...that's why I got a lap-top.

Posted by Hello

Posted by JD Lusan |