300-Foot Drop to a Miracle

By Jennifer Hukill

Never suspecting that April 22, 2016, would be anything more than a typical day, Chris's mountain bike ride turned into the most horrific day of his life. Catapulting off the sheer face of the cliff at sixteen miles an hour and falling nearly three hundred feet, this true story of grit, persistence, and love of family is nothing short of a miracle. Appearing to Chris halfway down the cliff was an angel of God dispatched to relay His message of hope and peace that God would see him through this most terrifying experience of his life. Throughout this painful journey, Chris's wife stood by his side, realizing in the end that her thinking about what she held as important in life was just as paralyzing as a fall off a mountain. Together, they healed each other as they moved closer to wholeness and the truth of God's Word. After being in a paralyzed state and moving through various hospitals and nursing facilities, Chris fought his way back to normalcy. This inspirational story is a reminder that no matter who you are or what circumstances you find yourself in, God is always true to His word and is an ever-ready presence when you are in need. News coverage video: https://youtu.be/ZcH-NhcYIVA Web page: miraclesurvivorstory.com

• Language: English
• Publisher: Covenant Books, Inc.
• Release date: Apr 10, 2019
• ISBN: 9781644710654

Book preview

Prologue

I have learned a lot in the past year about how connected we all are in the human family. I’ve come to realize that we are able to overcome more than we think we can if we allow ourselves to receive help from others. I also came to the conclusion that God is with us even when we do not feel His presence. But most importantly, I was led to look deep inside myself and discover the courage to face the fact that my thinking about life was just as paralyzing as a fall off a cliff. My life lessons were learned when I found myself in a situation that I could not solve on my own, and I was forced to lean on strangers and trust in God instead of relying on myself as was my practice in the past.

In April of 2016, my husband, Chris, fell three hundred feet from a cliff into a ravine, and I was told that he might never walk again. Watching the person I love whom I vowed to support in sickness and in health endure the struggle of immobility was enormously difficult for me to experience.

The internal struggle I experienced as I watched Chris fight for his life brought me closer to the miracles and blessings that God brings every day. I was raised to believe in a power higher than myself, but there have been times in my life when I questioned my faith. Through this experience, I came to realize the immensity and enormity of God’s love and His promise to all mankind.

Through this painful process, I gained insight into myself, my husband, my children, and the healing power of family and friends. If nothing else, the experience has now become a tribute to my husband’s courage, to my own courage, and to the legacy this leaves for our children. Most of all, it is a tribute to our faith.

This is not a story merely about struggle and pain. It is an account about how others shared in our anguish and how they stepped up to help with loving hands. It has opened my eyes to the more beautiful sides of love and life.

While we have many miles to go in this journey, it seems apparent to me that what we witnessed was nothing short of a miracle. Although the healing process has been messy and painful, it has also been incredibly beautiful to see that through the pain, joy and peace can be found in its wake.

Today, I more fully realize that we are all here to learn important lessons and to realize that God is ever present in our lives even when we don’t recognize it. And although we are often surprised by the way these lessons come about, they come, and we either fight them or embrace them. I ultimately chose to embrace them.

Chapter 1

April 22, 2016, 5:00 p.m.

Piercing the silence of the sleepy town, the sound of fire truck sirens blasted down the street. Curious onlookers turned their heads trying to see where the trucks were headed. The emergency vehicles skidded to a halt as they came to a heavily wooded canyon in Laguna Beach.

As the trucks arrived, a frantic man approached one of the vehicles, yelling loudly, My friend is down there. I saw his bike in a tree. He fell… He fell three hundred feet right off the cliff! We were just riding. I can’t believe this happened. Oh my God, what happened?

The desperate man turned out to be one of the rider’s friends.

Calm down and speak slower, the fireman stated. Exactly where was it that you saw him? The friend replied, I had seen my buddy on a ledge about thirty feet down from the cliff. His speech was garbled. It was hard to cut through his hysteria to understand what he was trying to communicate, yet he continued. I climbed down as fast as I could, and when I got to my friend, he was gone.

As he spoke again, his body shook. He must have fallen down the rest of the way, the riding partner continued. We were on a bike ride. He went the wrong way on Volkswagen Rock, he said exasperatedly, still shaking from the reality that was sinking in. Almost in a trancelike state, the agitated man again uttered, He must have gone to the right and not to the left.

Surveying the steep terrain filled with vegetation and peppered with rocks, it was difficult to make out anything, let alone a fallen bike rider. It was getting dark, and the sun would soon be setting.

The desperate friend who turned out to be a fellow mountain biker named Seth again interrupted the fire captain’s train of thought.

You’ve got to get him. He’s down there. He’s down there. Don’t stop looking!

The captain replied, I’ll call for the helicopter to rescue, stat. We only have about an hour more of daylight.

While tinkering away on a stained glass project, a local craftsman whose studio was located at the base of the canyon was interrupted by the distinct sound of the hovering helicopter blades. The sound jogged his memory to his own rescue years before. A sudden thought entered his mind: someone has fallen off the cliff. Dropping everything, he feverishly began the treacherous hike up the bike trail he’d ridden down so many times before, slipping on loose rock and graveled terrain, his pursuit to help too important to be stopped by fatigue or loose dirt. As he approached the cliff above, he witnessed ten firefighters all clothed in heavy coats and boots who appeared ready for any emergency. The firefighters were searching for anything that resembled a human body as they stared into the abyss below. Choking back his breathlessness, the craftsman blurted out, I know where he is. I’m going down to find him. Just follow me.

The captain, just as adamant, stated, I’m not going to let anyone else get hurt. The determined good Samaritan named Dirk spat back, I’m going down there! Now you can send one of these men with me or not, but I’m going down. I’ll wave to you when I’ve found him. He began his descent into the abyss of the canyon. One firefighter closely followed behind.

After some time of searching, Dirk’s voice came from behind high bushes, yelling loudly, I found him. I found him. He’s alive but unconscious. The trailing firefighter, weighted down by the enormous weight of his gear, finally arrived to the final resting place of the fallen biker. He assumed authority over the situation. Scrambling to speak into his walkie-talkie, he reported to the captain above, He’s surrounded by vegetation and he needs oxygen. He also has a punctured lung.

Be careful, his neck might be broken! Make sure to brace his neck, the captain barked.

Once the biker was found, three more firefighters scurried down the same small trail the craftsman had paved. They hovered around the fallen biker’s body. He has a pulse, but it is slow. BP is low. Breathing shallow, the fire fighter revealed. After performing the duties he had carried on during many other rescues, he again commented, Who could survive that drop? I can’t even see the top of the cliff from here. The John Doe that lay in a fetal position was still wearing his helmet, which surely saved his life.

The firefighters, with their collective years of experience, knew there was no time to waste. Each second that ticked by could mean possible brain or spinal damage. They lifted the motionless body onto the helicopter’s basket. Who is this man? What is his name? the captain asked as he carefully tried to remove the man’s helmet.

His riding buddy claimed his name is Chris Hukill.

The helicopter crew finally got in touch with the hospital. Mission is full. He needs to be ’coptered into a trauma 2 hospital, they radioed ahead. Global is available. Take him there, said a dispatcher on the other line.

Secured with tightened belts, they lifted the man’s paralyzed body into the air. The wind picked up slightly and swung the basket to the left. The firefighters had done their job, standing silent and still for the first time in about an hour; the only sound in the ravine was the helicopter blades rotating in rhythm.

The rescue workers followed the suspended cradle as it ascended into the hovering helicopter until it disappeared. Their silence spoke volumes. They had done all they could.

As the helicopter made its way to Global Hospital, one firefighter said to another, I’ve seen things like this before. It is going to take a miracle to save his life.

At that very moment, Seth mustered up the willpower to make the hardest phone call of his life.

Chapter 2

The Beginning: Thirty Years Earlier

Hurry up, my roommate shouted from downstairs. We’ll be late. She was always ready earlier than I and looked immaculate without trying. Her hair seemed to fall perfectly in place and her outfits appeared to fit her body like a glove as if they were made just for her.

I have to take my hot rollers out and I’ll be right down, I shouted back. I took the rollers out and combed through my blond hair, making sure the curls stayed in place with a cloud of hairspray. I tried to pick out an outfit that made me look a bit thinner. The last ten pounds were proving to be impossible to lose, but I made sure to wear higher heels to look a little taller than my five-foot-four-inch frame. Quickly I checked my makeup in the mirror, seeing my green eyes sparkle in its reflection. Maybe someday I’ll meet someone, I thought to myself. No time for a pity party now. Down the stairs I ran and hopped into the waiting car. My two roommates and I drove frantically through the streets of Newport Beach, trying to find the bar where my roommate was meeting a successful accountant from my work. I had set them up since I fancied myself a matchmaker.

Through the haze of happy laughter and drunk patrons, we arrived just in time to meet the man of her dreams. The two of us just came to keep her company. The blessed roommate soon left us alone to figure out where to sit and what to do. We desperately tried to find a seat in that jam-packed bar, but it was completely full except for one chair next to a man that turned out to be Chris. He had dark hair, a dark mustache, and his eyes appeared kind. He politely offered his chair to us, which was followed by a conversation about where we had grown up. We were both shocked to discover that we had lived less than four miles from each other, yet we had never met. Chris had grown up in the small town of Sierra Madre, and I grew up in the next town over, Arcadia.

It is ironic that I met Chris in a bar as I rarely go into them myself. On the rare occasion that I do have a drink, it’s usually diabetically sweet and one that goes down smoothly.

During our conversation, I learned that Chris had worked on a race team for Toyota Motorsports where he was in charge of all the painting and graphics on the race vehicles. I go down to Mexico to run a pit stop for Ivan Stewart, our driver, at the Baja 1000, he said. I was paying more attention to his eyes than his story. I found him intriguing, so I slipped him my phone number, feeling certain we would see each other again. On the drive home, I heard a little voice in my head say, You are going to marry that man.