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06/29/2006: "Dramatic Rescue in the Grand Canyon"

(Captain Bob Grusy with and the rescue chopper at the bottom of the Grand Canyon -Gordy Petersen photo)

By Gordy Petersen

Friday Harbor resident Debbie Sutliff fell off a rock while hiking in the Grand Canyon last week, and was rescued by helicopter in dramatic style. Debbie landed on a narrow shelf and was prevented from falling further down the canyon when another hiker, Dan Gavora, quickly stepped in and grabbed her. The guides for the trip and Friday Harbor veterinarian Jim Lehocky, who was part of the San Juan Island group on the trip, helped her down the trail to the camp. "I knew immediately that she would not be able to walk out of the canyon by herself. The way she landed on her knees just looked so painful. I met one of the boatmen on the way down the trail and told him we may need to fly her out."

Everyone in the party helped to give her comfort that night. She refused to take any painkillers except aspirin. Instead she spent hours sitting with her leg in the cold Colorado River. Her knee swelled to about twice the normal size by morning. She was airlifted to a hospital in Flagstaff, Arizona where she was stabilized.


(Jan Champlin, Jim Lehocky, and park medical personnel help Debbie Sutliff into a rescue helicopter-Gordy Petersen photo)

She underwent surgery Tuesday 6/27 at Virginia Mason Hospital in Seattle, and her daughter Stacie reports that "Debbie's surgery lasted three hours yesterday (June 28th). They say it is far better than they expected.. They expect to release her as early as tomorrow and don't want to see her for two weeks! It seems their only concern is pain medication since Debbie's body doesn't tolerate most oral medications well. They may keep her an extra day since she is still in such pain and they can help that with the morphine" Stacie will care for her until she is able to return to the island early next week.

The hike was part of a white-water rafting trip. A group of about 17 hikers left camp and wandered up a boulder-strewn rattlesnake infested side canyon in 115-degree heat. Several hikers turned back before the accident. Debbie kept going even though the trail turned into a hand-over-hand scramble up rock faces and talus slopes.

A full recovery is expected to take several months.