Christmas Tree Fall

Location: Salmon, Idaho
Date: November 24, 1988

Story

For Mary Jo Keller, Thanksgiving 1988 was special because it brought her entire family together again. But when everyone gathered around from the country at the Family Ranch in Salmon, Idaho, they never imagined a holiday celebration would test their faith in miracles. "It was the first time we had all been together in about five years. My mom and dad are divorced and it was a really juvalent experience to have us all as a family," remembers Mary Jo. They had decided to take advantage of being together by celebrating Christmas early. Late in the afternoon, her youngest brother, sixteen-year-old Will Barton, volunteered to go out and get a Christmas tree. "He was very athletic and that was very important to him and he was just starting to get into what life is all about," said Mary Jo. "My little brothers are starting to grow up and getting big enough you know it was fun to anticipate all the activities we could do together, but I didn't wake up that morning prepared to rescue Will," said John. 

Will drove up into the hills with his schoolmate, Matt Coupleman, to look for the best tree to cut. "I went out for wrestling and he was also on wrestling and he became a good friend to me that way," said Matt. They went up to the top corner of the ranch and it was sparse in the area. When they saw a top tree Will decided to go up, climb it, and cut off the top 7-10 feet or so. "It's easy to see the mistakes afterwards because in the middle of November they're slippery and brittle and you've got more clothes on than you used to and don't climb a tree," said John. Will climbed up the tree to cut off the top but lost his grip and plummeted 40 feet into a ravine. "I heard some branches break and I looked up and I saw that he had fallen. He told me that he couldn't feel his arms and legs and that he couldn't feel anything. So I swung his legs back and I knew that I wasn't supposed to move him. But he then told me that he was having difficulty breathing" said Matt. It was cold and getting dark out but Matt had to leave him and ran back to the house explaining that he was hurt and they needed help. "When Matt came back to the house and started to describe that he wasn't moving at all and just barely able to whisper, Julie right away said that it sounded like a spinal injury," said his mother, Mary. Will's sister, Julie Meyers, was a registered nurse and gave instructions to her three brothers and two brothers-in-law and they rushed outside with a board, blankets, and flashlights. "My biggest fear was if it is a spinal cord injury, he could quit breathing and my thought was that we gotta get over there and help him quick," said Julie.  

It had been nearly two hours since Will had fallen. His relatives called up miles of the ranch not knowing how injured he might be. But as darkness set in and temperatures plunked below freezing, Mary Jo was losing hope that he would still be alive when they found him. "Mom was just saying, 'Everything's gonna be alright. He's not gonna be that serious.' I tried to believe her, but I couldn't. It's like time skips a beat and when it resumes, your life has changed," said Mary Jo. "It was really dark outside. It was cold, probably fifteen degrees below zero under the wind chill factor," said Julie. They looked everywhere calling Will's name. "The only sound you can hear are other people calling Will's name hoping for a sound and I remember thinking, 'What if we don't find him,'" said John. He heard him and stumbled right on him.  

Will was real cold, looked very white, and his pulse was real slow. "He looked really bad," said Julie. She put his head in between her arms and held onto it, his neck, and shoulders while they moved him onto the board. She instructed them to keep his neck still while they carried him about 500 yards to a truck and drove him to the hospital. They were all so tired and knelt around to say a family prayer. By the time they managed to get him back to the house, more than two hours had passed since he fell. "I just stepped into the car, fell into Mom's arms, and started crying. I said 'Mom, he's not okay,'" said John.  

When they got to the hospital, their physician, Dr. Boyd Simmons, was there to meet them. "He was completely paralyzed in all four extremities. He had a fracture and dislocation of his neck," said Dr. Simmons.  

Will was placed in traction and airlifted 90 miles to a trauma center in Missoula, Montana. His father, Walt Barton, who had left the ranch two days before drove 12 hours through a blizzard to see him at the hospital. Neurosurgeon Henry Gary told them that surgery might be the only way to fix his spine. But because the procedure itself was risky, Dr. Gary wanted to wait 24 hours to see if attraction alone would work. All of Will's relatives visited and prayed for him. "It started at 6:00 in the evening and at 6:30 the breathing therapist came in to pump Will's lungs up to make them work. At that point something pumped into his neck. It scared the breathing therapist to death," said Mary Jo. His vertebrae had realigned and they did not have to do surgery but he still had no feeling from the neck down. His prognosis for recovery was not good. "At that point they diagnosed him as a quadriplegic. He would probably never be able to walk or feed himself again," said Mary Jo.  

They had to turn Will every 45 minutes to keep his circulation going to prevent bedsores. "It was just mortifying to see him laying there," said Mary Jo. There was nothing Mary Barton could do to lift his spirit. "Will really got depressed and he would just lay there starring at the ceiling and so I'd go in and ask him what was happening and he said, 'I'm just practicing being a vegetable,'" said Mary. He asked her to do something special for him and she'd ask, 'What are you talking about? What do you want me to do?' and he asked her to put a pillow over his face and take him out of his misery.  

Will then began attending daily physical therapy. "I remember the nurses rushing around me and sort of panicking. They were trying to get my pulse and I could see a bright light - the most beautiful garden you've ever seen. That was the turning point in my whole recovery because it was my choice. I would have had bad days after that. But I never wished I would have made that choice. I'm glad I did," said Will. His condition slowly improved. But doctors let out hope that he'd ever walk again.  

In late February 1989, Will felt really strange and asked his dad to pull him up and hold him because he wanted to stand up. "All of the sudden, I felt the weight of his body relaxing and I felt him starting to take on the weight that he had," said Walt.  

By the following Christmas, Will and his family had reason to celebrate. "I had to learn to walk again, but I was determined to work as hard as I could," said Will. "The QT came back and he graduated with his high school class. There were over about 5000 people in the stadium. And Will walked down that aisle and received his diploma," said John. He can walk but lacks coordination and has trouble with everyday tasks like getting dressed. "You probably can improve with additional practice to a certain level. But it's a very rare case and starts out with a happy ending," said Dr. Gary. "Before, I was very athletic. After my accident, I was very appreciative of what I had. Getting up from one place and moving to another. My family helped me a lot in my recovery and I realized it's the family that matters the most," said Will.