127 hours - The Story of Aron Ralston.

Georgia is joined by Bridie to discuss the case of Aron Ralston, an experienced cannoneer who was forced to make an impossible decision between his arm or his life. 

Special shout out to our patreon members:

Laura R- Founding Member/ Interrogation Room

Jess P- Interrogation Room.

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Kellie B- Suspects/TikTok VIP

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

I'll just pull one card for Bridey, should I?

SPEAKER_01 0:02

Hi, my name is Georgia. I'm there. I need my own theme song. Who is you? Oh, I'm Bridey. Hi, my Georgia sister.

SPEAKER_02 0:09

Your theme song is do. What's the next one?

SPEAKER_00 0:18

Welcome to Nurse Roger Podcast. Yet again, my name is Georgia, and today we have I don't know. Something, something, something came into my head and then went. How bad was that shuffle? Shocking.

SPEAKER_01 0:40

I've seen worse.

SPEAKER_00 0:41

We're gonna do one more. What's our attention? What do you want to know? Uh we're doing goddess cards. The mythic goddess tarot that Bridey herself gifted me. Bought as a book prop and then never used. A prop as in like a for a photo. Oh, and you're like, I'm woo-woo. I can be woo-woo.

SPEAKER_01 1:00

No, the book was about a um a woman serial killer who read tarot in a traveling circus.

SPEAKER_00 1:07

Woman serial killer though.

SPEAKER_01 1:08

It was funny. Oh yeah. There's two of them in the series. It's really good. It's a really good series.

SPEAKER_00 1:13

This is not very well shuffled. You got all cups. They were all over the room. They all jumped out. I don't I deem that unacceptable. Oh, okay. Like jumping out is good, but if they're all the same. In my cups. All the cups.

SPEAKER_01 1:26

I haven't even thought of a thing yet, though.

SPEAKER_00 1:28

Um what is our intention for this podcast? Um I just don't love having intentions, to be honest.

SPEAKER_01 1:35

No, me neither. I I struggle with an intention.

SPEAKER_00 1:37

An intention is so yesterday.

SPEAKER_01 1:40

So yesterday.

SPEAKER_02 1:42

So yesterday. I'm like a bird. It's already fun.

SPEAKER_01 1:48

Um I got tickets. And I'm gonna be okay with that. See this live. Right. Four of Wands. What does that mean? Do I get four wands? It means celebrations. Oh, I love celebrations. Anything coming up? Yes, I have a slumber party tomorrow night in my book club. There you go.

SPEAKER_00 2:07

It's gonna be all that says about it. Your book club.

SPEAKER_01 2:10

We're reading Wuthering Heights, so we're watching the new movie. I mean amazing. Have you seen it yet? No. Is it out? You can rent it from prime.

SPEAKER_00 2:21

Alright, so Four of Ones, key meanings, new friends, stability, and trust. I mean, that's pretty apt for your book club, new friends. The Four of Ones is a joyous card of celebration coming together with loved ones and making new friends. It signifies a harmonious, happy, and loving home environment. You can build stability now. And it's a great time to enjoy the company of others, whether it's to mark a milestone or just to get together for good times. Oh there you go.

SPEAKER_01 2:51

Are we marking a milestone? Why are you getting together? Um, because my family are away, so I have four birthdays to make it. So no milestones. I was like, let's all just slumber party.

SPEAKER_00 3:00

Okay. This card can represent parties and reunions. My God. Vacations. Ringing any of your bells at the minute? Nah, not at all. Honeymoons and housewarming parties. It also may represent the reaching of a particularly important goal. There's a good chance you can raise a glass or two of something fizzy and feel proud. Fizzy meaning Pepsi Max.

SPEAKER_01 3:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:23

It's as fizzy as I get.

SPEAKER_01 3:25

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 3:26

That's pretty fizzy. Yeah, it is pretty fizzy. We're actually talking about something completely different today. Yeah, I don't actually know what you decided on. I decided on 127 hours. Oh the true story. Okay? Are you happy with me? Back in the caves. So that was 36 minutes of ranting. That's fine. That's fine. This is quite a long story. Strap in. You get your money's worth. I mean, this is free, but subscribers. You get your money's worth. Anyways. So have you heard of this? Yes, I I have seen the movie. Okay, listen. I wanted to do Everest. Apparently, your daughter's going to Everest at some stage through school. I just I don't remember Everest. She doesn't want to know. So many other things you could talk to me about. But there's so many deaths on Everest. Yeah. So yours and my thing was deaths. And I wanted to stick to it. Now you're throwing a banner on the wax. Okay, so bring someone else one for death.

SPEAKER_01 4:21

No, you're funny. I know. I'm hilarious. It's a this isn't even a death one. I know.

SPEAKER_00 4:27

Because I I caved. Yeah. I was gonna do You want to do the catacombs. I was gonna do Ivan Millat. That would be brutal.

SPEAKER_01 4:36

Why didn't we do that? I just didn't. I s I purposely didn't even look anything.

SPEAKER_00 4:39

Lost interest. Um, and then I thought the catacombs because scary scary skulls and dark passageways that actually is super cool to me.

SPEAKER_01 4:48

Yeah, it sounds like a gothic.

SPEAKER_00 4:50

Yeah. I think I thought you'd might like it. That's way more my vibe. Yeah. It's history. So we'll we'll put that on the output. So that's a yes, that's approved. I just kept throwing ideas at her and she was like, Can we just pick something? Anyways. Yeah, I don't mind. Just pick something. Yeah, and we mentioned last time in Cave Deaths this. So I thought I'll go in. And I did go in. Like, if I'm not finding it interesting, I won't. I just won't. It was interesting to you. Wait, does this mean I can watch Wolf Creek now? No, because it's on the list. I am gonna do it. It was just a big thing. Like it's a big it's it's a multiple part of that guy. It killed a lot of people. So anyway, 127 hours. Strap in. Okay, it's a movie. Just so you know, the 127 hours. He was stuck for 127 hours, I'm assuming. How long was he stuck for? 127 hours. Oh. Yeah. Alright, so in April 2003, his name was Aaron Ralston. Set out on a I don't know what that was. Ralston. Aaron Ralston set out on a solo trip to Blue John Canyon in Utah. He's gotta be Utah.

SPEAKER_02 5:59

That's a roller case.

SPEAKER_00 6:05

He was 27, physically fit, and experienced in climbing and canoeing. Canyoning, sorry. Canoeing? He's out there in the caves with his paddles. Similar words. This wasn't unusual for him. He often went out alone. Dumb move. Anyways. What mattered though was that this time he didn't tell anyone exactly where he was going. No one knew his route. No one knew when to expect him back. 127 hours later.

SPEAKER_01 6:32

Not yet. Not recommended. Does wait, 2003. We had mobile then.

SPEAKER_00 6:39

Yeah, but there was no service. We get to that. Oh, sorry. We get to that. You jumped the gun. For fuck's sake.

SPEAKER_01 6:44

Have you got the film? Yes, but I was like 10 years ago. For God's sake. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 6:49

Sidebar. Side note. Sidebar. Side something. So hot.

SPEAKER_01 6:53

What's his name? James Franco. Oh. He's so delicious. His brother, Dave, too. So gorgeous. He he's married to Alison Bree, and they're just I didn't know he had another brother. What? I know James. Dave Franco. Have you not seen like Bad Neighbours? With Zach Efron.

SPEAKER_00 7:10

Oh, he's yes, he's gorgeous. He's stunned. And now that I think of it, yes. Yeah. They do look similar. Dang. Anyway, they're both hot. Yes. That's the point. Excellent. Okay. Good side note. So it wasn't usual for him to not tell anyone that he was going anywhere, he usually would. He was already deeply embedded in a lifestyle built around independence, risk, and pushing physical limits. He grew up in Inglewood, which is a suburb just south of Denver in the United States. He was academically strong, he studied mechanical engineering and was working as an engineer before leaving that career behind. At a certain point, he made a very deliberate decision to walk away from the structured stable path and pursue something very different. Adventure. He moved towards a life centered around the outdoors, which I like that. I mean, relate. Yeah, I like that a lot. I would love to do that. I want to move to the countryside, buy a farm, and have 20 Highland cows.

SPEAKER_01 8:06

No, I feel like you would do really well living in like a bus.

SPEAKER_00 8:10

I would live in a bus.

SPEAKER_01 8:11

Yeah, I feel like you would. And cruising around, you mean? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:14

No, but like retiring, I want Highland cows. That is what I want to do. That is the dream.

SPEAKER_01 8:19

The end. I mean, 20 seems like a lot. 20's a lot, but I maybe just get one or two.

SPEAKER_00 8:24

Two, definitely. Yeah, we'll just see. I would want I want to breed them. Oh have multiple babies. Have you seen baby Highland cows? Oh my god. Stop. They're so cute. Yeah, of course they have. They have them in the Macedon Rangers. Oh, I know. We should, yeah, we'll go. They're everywhere. He had them in Mansfield as well. I stopped and gushed over them frequently. They would never come close to me. I was so annoyed.

SPEAKER_01 8:47

Yeah, unless you hand raise them, they're just like regular cattle.

SPEAKER_00 8:50

They're like cats. Life centered around the outdoors. This looked like regularly climbing, hiking, and mountaineering. Not casually, but quite seriously. He had a goal of climbing all of the Colorado's 14 years, the mountains over 14,000 feet of doing them solo. No idea. Ask Google. Okay, off Google. He preferred being alone, and because he was in a transitional phase of his life and had a urge to live more freely and more loosely structured, he didn't live by a rigid routine. It was a period where he was focused on personal challenge and autonomy rather than stability. People who knew him described him as confident, capable, and highly self-reliant. This self-reliance is key to the story. I would add in like mentally strong. Yeah. Resilient. Yeah, that is a very I would say he's highly intelligent, Mr. Engineer. I think he his logic is quite good. Sound. Is sound. It gets him through the entire time. His decision to go to Blue John Canyon. I was also, I was almost gonna say crayon. Blue John Crayon. How'd you lose your arm?

SPEAKER_01 10:00

Can you walk around crayons?

SPEAKER_00 10:02

His decision to go alone is often criticized, but it wasn't seen by him as a high-risk, unusual decision. It was consistent with how he had been living. He'd done solo trips before, he knew the terrain, he trusted his abilities, and because of that, he didn't leave an itinerary or inform anyone of his whereabouts intended. Not out of recklessness in the sense of ignoring danger intentionally, but more from a mindset of I know what I'm fucking doing, I'll be fine. Yeah, fair. So on the morning of April 26, 2003, Aaron set out for what to him was a pretty standard solo outing. He was staying in Utah at the time and drove himself out towards Blue John Canyon, which is a remote area accessible only by dirt roads. This wasn't a guided trip or anything structured. He simply drove himself to a trailhead area and set off on his own. Left his car there.

SPEAKER_01 10:51

So he just randomly went somewhere, picked a spot and went?

SPEAKER_00 10:54

Yeah, no plan. Okay. The weather was clear and dry. That sounds like something you would do. Yeah. Yeah, spontaneous. Yeah. Maybe not now, back in the day. The weather was clear and dry, typical of the Utah Desert in spring. There's no exact recorded timestamp down to the minute of when he started his hike, but based on his later recollection, he set off sometime in the morning with plenty of daylight ahead of him. He was travelling relatively light, which was typical for him. He had a backpack, 350 milliliters of water. Why? I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 11:27

That's very specifically terrible. It's so bad. In the desert. But he forgot to refill. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:33

It's like he forgot. He was like, oh fuck up. He's like halfway down. Like I would do this. Yeah. Fuck, I forgot my water bottle. Shit. Oh, here's here's one from last week in my bag.

SPEAKER_01 11:42

So I've got a quarter left, but you know, that's so little water. Like, there's nearly more than that in my Pepsi. Like, this is 375 mil.

SPEAKER_00 11:52

This is 250.

SPEAKER_01 11:53

This is more than what he had. 350, yeah. Jesus Christ. That's not enough. This is like this is like an hour of Pepsi. Yeah. Okay. Yes. Literally 127. For a hiker, that's really something. Like minimum, you'd want 500. Like if you're someone that does this, has left your job to do this, you'd think.

SPEAKER_00 12:12

And you're experienced. Why are you into it? In the Utah desert. He must have thought it would only take half a day or some shit. Yeah. Yeah. That was probably the intention. Yeah. And he knew the area. Too much confidence. Yep. It'll fuck you up. He also had a small amount of food, just snacks, a cheap multi-tool, like a pocket knife with a bunch of other things. Climbing gear, including rope for rappling, and a video camera. What he did not have was water. More water. Adequate amounts of water. Survival water. Even a live straw would be great. Yeah. He didn't have a phone on him. The canyon is so remote it likely would have wouldn't have worked, so didn't bother bringing it. No GPS tracker, no emergency beacon, no one aware of his exact location. Those are the things he did not bring. He forgot to bring his brain. After parking his vehicle, he began moving through the canyon system. At one point earlier in the day, he actually encountered two female hikers. A chance meeting. They spent some time together. At one point they came to a drop in the canyon, and Ralston showed them a technique for descending safely, essentially helping guide them through that section. So just acting the expert. Then he goes, fucks himself up real bad. The irony of it all, you know?

SPEAKER_01 13:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:26

After that, they went their separate ways. He didn't give them a plan, a destination. Why would he? Don't tell strangers. Yeah. They had no reason to track or report him. Good, I guess. Well, not really, but you know. You know what I mean.

SPEAKER_01 13:40

I mean, I don't go up to random people aiming. Hey, I'm going back to the city. And then remember where they went.

SPEAKER_00 13:46

That was the last time anyone saw him, anyways, before the accident. He continued on alone and shortly entered a narrower part of the canyon system known as slot canyons. I wonder what happens there. Things get stuck. Get stuck in the slot. His method of hiking that day included what was called canyoneering. Canyoneero. Anyways. That was involuntary, sorry. Which involves moving directly through a canyon rather than around it. In environments like this, the route naturally leads you into tight, narrow passages and often requires climbing, squeezing through confined spaces and descending into drops. Once you're inside a slot, canyon, there usually aren't any easy exit points, so your options are limited to continuing forward or turning back. For someone with his level of experience, this type of terrain was completely normal and something he had done many times before. So, anyways, he began to descend into the slot using a common technique where you brace your body between the walls to control your descent, like a ninja.

SPEAKER_01 14:55

Oh yeah. Oh yeah, like Cusco?

SPEAKER_00 14:57

Yes, but one person.

SPEAKER_01 14:59

Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_00 15:00

I love that you just understood that. Cusco. These canyons are narrow enough that you can press your back against one side and your feet against the other, slowly lowering yourself down. So that's what he was doing. Okay. As he was descending, he moved past a large boulder that was wedged between the canyon walls. That is a nice boulder. That is a nice boulder. This kind of rock formation is common. They often look stable because they're jammed in place, but as he shifted his body and moved to the ground, the boulder became loose and it suddenly dislodged and dropped. As it fell, it trapped his right arm against the canyon wall, pinning it tightly between the rock and the sandstone. The force was immediate and complete. This sounds similar to the other guy that we talked about, hey.

SPEAKER_01 15:42

Yeah, but is this sandstone?

SPEAKER_00 15:45

Not limestone, sandstone this time. His arm was crushed immediately and immobilized with no space to pull it free and no leverage to shift the rock. He remained upright, feet on the canyon floor, luckily, at least. His body weighed, sorry, his body wedged in this tight space with his arm trapped at the forearm. So like there, that would hurt so bad. Um his first reaction was practical. I would be screaming and crying. He immediately tried to pull his arm free. I would do that. Yeah, I feel like that's just an immediate response. Yeah. Practical. He treated it like a problem he could solve. He shifted his weight, twisted his torso, and attempted to create leverage against the canyon walls. In a space that narrow, your body becomes your main tool, but there was no movement. The rock didn't shift and his arm didn't come loose. Um I had a thought and it's gone. Moving on. He then turned his attention to the boulder itself. He pushed against it, tried to lift it, tried to wedge himself into a position where he could dislodge it, but the rock was far too heavy. And because it was jammed between the canyon walls, it wasn't just weight, it was locked in place, kind of friction-wise. At that stage, he still believed this was something he could fix. It's fine.

SPEAKER_01 16:54

That's fine, it's so positive.

SPEAKER_00 16:55

And I think this is literally.

SPEAKER_01 16:57

Is it possible he's Australian?

SPEAKER_00 17:00

Oh, he's American. He used his multi-tool to try and chip away at the surrounding rock, which is smart. Yeah. Hoping to create even a small amount of space, but in so doing, he blunted the blade. Remember that for later. The tool wasn't strong enough for that kind of material, and progress was minimal to none. You would think sandstone would be easy to chip away. Well, I mean, if it's a boulder, it's worked its way down to be that big.

SPEAKER_01 17:26

Yeah, you'd have to chip like and it's a big one too.

SPEAKER_00 17:28

You'd need like an axe or like a pickaxe or something to actually break it up. So, in terms of the pain, it was there, but the bigger problem was that his arm wasn't moving at all, and neither was the rock. He was stuck there.

SPEAKER_01 17:40

Yeah, that's that is an issue.

SPEAKER_00 17:44

He was less concerned with the pain, is what I'm saying. Yeah. It was estimated to be around 360 kilograms, the rock.

SPEAKER_01 17:50

Oh my god, that's a heavy rock.

SPEAKER_00 17:51

That was a very hairy rock. And roughly about the size of a small car tyre or large suitcase. Large suitcase.

unknown 17:58

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 18:00

You know, like if you see like one of those like stake A suitcases. Over the next few days, it became clear this wasn't something he was going to walk away from easily. As time passed, he began to pace himself. He understood fairly quickly that his energy and supplies were limited. Yeah, 350 mil, it's looking a bit sparse. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:19

So he he's he definitely drank his own pea, right?

SPEAKER_00 18:22

I'll get to that. Yep. Around a few hundred millilitres, as we said. And some food, and he began rationing both almost immediately. Oh, that's good. Yeah. Smart man. Yeah. When night came, the conditions changed. Slot canyons don't retain light once the sun is gone. It becomes, or I think I meant heat.

SPEAKER_01 18:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:40

Once the sun is gone. It becomes completely dark. Temperatures dropped, and he was still standing or partially wedged in that position. Like he couldn't lay down or nothing. Oh, that would be he was wedged upright, yeah. Um, he couldn't elevate his arm and couldn't fully relax his body. Any sleep would have been brief and interrupted. By the second day, the situation became more defined. He continued trying to free himself, but less frequently, trying to conserve energy. Not because he had given up, but you know, each attempt used energy he couldn't afford to waste.

SPEAKER_01 19:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:12

His water supply was already significantly reduced. As dehydration progressed, his body would have begun to respond. He would have experienced increasing thirst, dry mouth, fatigue, reduced concentration. Despite that, he remained mentally organized enough to continue thinking through options. By the third and fourth days, his water was gone. What he had bought with him was never meant to last. What? It was enough for a short hike, not for being trapped. So he adapted. In the limited space he had, he used his bottle to collect his own urine. Yeah. Water. He drank it. Physically, it would have given him a small amount of fluid back into his system, like his blood pressure and that. Yeah. Early on, urine still contains a a fair bit of water, so drinking it can temporarily slow down the progression of dehydration. But by this stage, his body was already conserving everything it could. His kidneys would have been producing highly concentrated urine, meaning what he was drinking contained increasing amounts of waste and salts. So it's kind of counterproductive to drink your piss if you're dehydrated. So while it may have helped slightly in the moment, it wasn't a solution. His body was still losing fluid overall. His mouth would have been dry, energy dropping, and his circulation beginning to struggle to maintain normal function. As those options ran out and his physical condition declined, he began to accept that he might not survive. That's when he turned to the camera. He made a little movie. It became a way to document what he believed could be his final days. He recorded multiple messages over the course of his entrapment. He spoke directly to his family. Yeah, no, that would be devastating. I know, I'd cry. He addressed his parents, acknowledging what had happened and explaining the situation he was in. He apologized in a matter-of-fact way for the decisions that had led him there, particularly for not telling anyone where he was going. The recordings continued over the following days and they became more reflective. He talked about his life, not in a detailed timeline, but in fragments. Things that mattered, people who mattered. The kind of thoughts that come when someone believes they're reaching the end. He was in a sense organizing his final thoughts. At one point, he also used the camera to document his condition. He showed his trapped arm, he showed the space he was in, not for dramatics, but almost as evidence, as if he understood that if he didn't survive, this m might be the only explanation anyone could have. How this happened.

SPEAKER_01 21:43

Now she's getting excited because he's gonna chop his arm off. Shh, don't give away the fucking story. What if someone's never watched it? I mean, I wonder what he's gonna do. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:53

Now the problem had been reframed. His arm wasn't something he could save. It had been with Without proper blood flow for days, no longer functioning, no longer something he could rely on in future. And once that became clear, the question shifted. At some point in that stillness, when there was nothing left to try, the realization surfaced. Aaron began to consider cutting off his arm. He didn't have specialized equipment or anything designed for what he was about to do. What? He didn't have water. I mean, yeah, crazy.

SPEAKER_01 22:26

He didn't bring a surgical saw with him?

SPEAKER_00 22:29

A bone saw. We have this tool in the operating room called Bone Nibblers.

SPEAKER_01 22:34

That's terrifying.

SPEAKER_00 22:35

Yep. They literally, it's literally what you think it is. It just crunches the tips off like digits. Gross. Bone nibblers. Why? Um amputations mainly. Just crunching the little nubs off and stuff. Can't they just in the joint? They then crunch the like the cartilage and the and sometimes you'll have spurs. Yeah. Yeah. That you gotta crunch off too crunchy, crunch, crunchy.

SPEAKER_01 23:00

I had a friend with a spur in his neck that bone.

SPEAKER_00 23:03

So we had a spur coming off his vertebrae. Yeah, and it was just surviving.

SPEAKER_01 23:08

Coking. That's crazy. Yeah. And um, yeah, they took it off and he's okay now, but the bone nibblers.

SPEAKER_00 23:14

Yeah. They nibbled it off. Anyways, nibble makes a crunching sound too, by the way. Just for general knowledge. I have to share my experience. It's lucky I'm a bit more. No one's allowed in there other than so. What he had to help him with his amputation was a small, inexpensive multi-tool that I mentioned before. The blade on it was short and blunt now that he'd used it on the rock. Did he sharpen it on the rock? You could, and I don't know why he didn't. Maybe he did, but it's not mentioned. And up until that point, it had been useless against the rocks. So how good would it be for bone? So he's in a bit of a pickle. So he sat on it. Not the not anything physical, but the idea. Not literally. He can't sit. He can't sit. Um imagine standing with your arm stuck for four. Four. Is that five? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:07

For five days. You'd be just like lifting your legs, wouldn't you? Like randomly to get the blood back into your upper part of your legs.

SPEAKER_00 24:15

I think like your arm would go so numb to a point that you would just try and hang. I would hang. Yeah. I would try and hang.

SPEAKER_01 24:23

Or if it was like if because he could do that, the Cusco thing with his legs up. I wonder if he was like crawling his legs up and like sitting like that for a bit and then rearranging.

SPEAKER_00 24:33

I feel like maybe he did do that in the movie. I'm having a visual of him like changing positions every so often. I mean, like if he could, he probably would. I would put my legs up for sure. Oh, 100%. Hundy.

SPEAKER_01 24:43

I I get uncomfortable sitting still for like 10 minutes.

SPEAKER_00 24:46

My butt hurts now. Yeah. That's because I broke my tailbone when I was dancing back in the day and it's never healed. Oh god. I fell on my ass, obviously. As well, yes. Anyways. I've never broken a bone. Just random fat. My foot. And my ass.

SPEAKER_01 25:02

When did you break your foot?

SPEAKER_00 25:03

I had an x-ray machine run over it at work. Oh my god. They couldn't do anything. How ironic. I know. And the guy who ran over my foot, the x-ray tech, was like, oh, also, it's really hard for bone uh foot fractures to come up on x-ray as well. A lot of the time they're very fine. So you were like, great, thanks so much. I was like, great, thanks. Give me my free x-ray. Went to the doctors. And he was like, it's not broken, you're walking on it. I was like, cunt, I had to get in here, obviously.

SPEAKER_01 25:31

Like, I what else was they supposed to do? Roll through the wall.

SPEAKER_00 25:36

Like, hello? Some assaulting into the locations. I said, sir, people function with broken arms all the time. They don't know what's happened. They just know they hurt.

SPEAKER_01 25:46

Well, yeah, our brother literally had a broken arm. We didn't know for like eight hours. My mum and her elbow? Yeah. She didn't go get chocolate. Like, I felt a bit shiny.

SPEAKER_00 25:54

You went into shock. Oh my god. She had like this awful thing reaction. She's got to be hot. She lost her blood pressure. She went to fucking. Oh my god. Anyways, she lived. Um, but yeah, case in point. People don't realise they've broken stuff.

SPEAKER_01 26:11

I'm pretty sure that Tom's mum also had a broken toe for ages and just didn't know. It's nothing you can do about it. No, she was you just gotta wear a boot. My foot hurts. I'm going to keep going to work. I couldn't wear heels for like 12 months.

SPEAKER_00 26:23

I haven't worn heels in like six years. Yeah, but this is like not by choice for me. Um, because it was the ball of my foot that he ran over. So I couldn't like squeezes that would hurt. Yeah, put any pressure on it.

SPEAKER_01 26:35

I had a horse stand on me once there, but it didn't break. That would have fucking hurt. Yeah, I was like 10 or something.

SPEAKER_00 26:42

I feel like I remember that. Where was that at?

SPEAKER_01 26:43

At Rihanna's.

SPEAKER_00 26:44

Oh Rihanna's. Yeah.

unknown 26:46

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_01 26:47

Their horse pickles stepped on my foot. Pickle! Yeah, but I'm pretty sure that I was wearing steel cap boots because that's what his parents made us wear. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:56

Smart. Yeah. But it still hurt, obviously. Oh, I was like She was like right on the top of your foot.

SPEAKER_01 27:01

He was a huge horn.

SPEAKER_00 27:02

Not necessarily on just the cap of the toes. And I was a teeny tiny person, a teeny bopper. Anyways, I don't regrets. So back to the chopping. After that he sat and thought on it, he realized the first step wasn't cutting. It was snapping the bones in his forearm. And just for references to I just I just the It's not one. It's just the mental capacity to be able to do that. Yeah. Using the position he was already trapped in, he just decided it's time to fucking snap my arm in half. He braced himself against the canyon walls and applied force through his arm around the rock until the radius and ulna snapped. Oh I feel unwell.

SPEAKER_01 27:52

Yeah, like that's not like the vision. Like I just keep hearing it. It's so against your human nature to hurt yourself that badly. Like how did he force himself to do that? Is my question. I mean, he's he's five days live in dehydration and sleep depravity.

SPEAKER_00 28:08

I get to that.

SPEAKER_01 28:09

Yeah. You must be delivering.

SPEAKER_00 28:12

You asked the question. I did. It was a rhetorical. Clearly. Asking the atmosphere and letting it sit there. Okay? Anyway. He described hearing and feeling the break. I mean, yeah, you would feel it. The fuck. But hearing it, no. No, I've got it. Absolutely not. I don't like that at all. No sounds, thanks. So he describes it as a clear physical sensation, but he didn't dwell on it as the most traumatic part. That's still coming. Is it the twang? It's the twang. It's a twang. Shh.

unknown 28:47

Stop giving it away. It's a twang.

SPEAKER_00 28:50

There was pain, but it wasn't the centre of his focus. By that point, his arm had already been trapped for days, and the sensation had altered. Parts of it were numb, parts still had feeling, but overall it wasn't functioning normally, and either was his pain response.

SPEAKER_01 29:05

Um, did he tourniquet it at all? Am I getting ahead of myself again? Sorry.

SPEAKER_00 29:10

I'm slow nodding. Yeah, cut that out. Cat. Um, from a clinical's perspective as a clinician, dehydration alone has a significant impact on the body. Pain and sensation in general is reduced. Matter of fact, Lee. You wouldn't think I'm a professional. I sound so dumb. Anyway, it's the reading. Fluid levels drop, blood volume decreases, circulation becomes less efficient, and the body begins to prioritize vital organs. So it diverts blood flow there. Make sense? Yes. The peripheries get neglected. AKA arms and legs. It received less blood flow. Over time, that contributes to reduced sensation, obviously. Um, you know how when you like sit on your leg funny and you get a sleep leg, that's like you wake up in the middle of the night and you slap yourself in the face. That's actually reduced blood flow. Oh, that's the worst feeling ever. I know. Um, especially in tissue that's already been compressed, um, you're not gonna feel it after a while. So part of his arm wasn't responding the way a healthy limb would. It wasn't fully numb though, but it wasn't fully intact in terms of sensation. In addition to this, adrenaline was playing a huge role. Like, you've got to get yourself fucking riled up to break your own arm. Break your own arm. Jesus. Some psychological things would be going on there, including adrenaline. So adrenaline doesn't remove pain completely, but it changes the way your brain processes. I thought this was so interesting. It narrows the focus, it reduces the emotional response to pain. You still feel it, but you don't care. Yeah. It allows someone to continue functioning in situations that would normally be overwhelming, like fight or flight running from a bear, you know? Instead of reacting to pain, the body becomes more task-oriented, like saving your own life. That's what adrenaline is for, yeah, essentially. Makes sense, right?

SPEAKER_01 30:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:53

Like if you're being attacked by a bayonet, you're not gonna worry about the scratches that you got, you're just gonna try to get the fuck away.

SPEAKER_01 30:57

Yeah. Yeah. I feel like I've got to be. When people crash after things happen, like they come down from there and go to my and then all of a sudden they're like, oh my god, I am in so much better.

SPEAKER_00 31:07

The blood pressure drops, yeah. Because you know, all of the physiological responses to adrenaline helps you like function, and then when the stress stops.

SPEAKER_01 31:15

Yeah, well, like after I gave birth to my daughter, I was just like shaking for like a solid half hour because I was like, Oh, I don't feel well.

SPEAKER_00 31:24

I think so. Once he broked his arm, broke, he did describe it as painful, but it wasn't described as overwhelming or intense pain, and he was encouraged by um the fact that he was able to get over the bone-breaking hurdle because it was one step closer to freedom. Once he broke those bones, he was like, I can get out. Oh, the confidence, you know, but it's like kind of true. Like, yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 31:47

This was his biggest hurdle up till now.

SPEAKER_00 31:49

The situation shifted immediately from impossible to possible in his mind. What remained was soft tissue. No easy feet. He began to work through the tissue step by step, adjusting his position where he could, continuing forward because there was no alternative. Okay, I'll go back now. My arm is half off. He took his time with it, which I do not get, and once he started, he kept going. I feel like I would try and get through that as quick as possible. I don't think I can do it.

SPEAKER_01 32:17

Your time just Especially because it's his right hand. Like if he's left-handed, like that's its own issue.

SPEAKER_00 32:24

I actually don't know what he was. Well, now he's left-handed. The most intense moments came as he reached the nerves. That's the part he later described as the most distinct. A sharp, radiating sensation that was hard to ignore. But even then, he didn't stop. By that point, he was fully committed to the bit. You can't go back once you've done damage like that.

SPEAKER_01 32:44

Oh no, no way.

SPEAKER_00 32:45

You can't just sit down and decide. Yeah, he lost his dominant hand. Oh, that's so rough. He kept working through until there was nothing left holding his arm in place. He was free. And then, after more than five days trapped in the canyon, he was able to pull himself away from the rock. There wasn't a pause or a sense of relief that lasted very long because he still had to get the fuck out of there. Yeah. He was still deep in the canyon, severely dehydrated and now dealing with a major injury. And to your question, he secured a makeshift tourniquet after he cut off his arm. Oh, why after? Because of the positioning. He couldn't manage it. Ah, okay. Using tubing from his hydration pack. Oh, that's clever. And he used that to wrap tightly around his upper arm as best he could above the amputation to restrict the blood flow. He secured it as best he could, given the circumstances, one hand and all. Then he gathered himself and started moving. Dehydrated five days in, ran out of food, bleeding, missing a limb. That's amazing. Isn't it? It really is.

SPEAKER_01 33:42

Incredible.

SPEAKER_00 33:42

The canyon didn't open up immediately. He still had to navigate his way out through the canyon.

SPEAKER_01 33:46

Oh, of course. He had to do his body climbing thing again.

SPEAKER_00 33:50

Jesus. Not far from where he'd been trapped to add insult to injury, he came up against a drop of about 20 meters. He would have to repel down under normal circumstances. This would have required both arms. Oh god. And now he had one. He set up his rope and repelled down somehow, controlling his descent with one hand somehow. That's amazing. I know. Like probably just underneath his bum, sort of like shimming himself down. He moved slow and controlled. Mistake there would have been fatal, like falling 20 meters. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:21

Imagine cutting your arm off and then being like, oh fuck.

SPEAKER_00 34:23

Well, that was a rookie fucking mistake. I need that arm. He made it to the bottom and he kept going. He moved through the canyon system, following the natural path out, gradually making his way towards more open terrain. By this point, he was severely dehydrated, weak, and losing energy and blood, but he continued on. He's superman. Eventually. Adrenaline. Adrenaline. Yes. I mean, you would have to have a lot after you chop your own fucking arm off. Yeah, you'd think. You'd just keep reducing it, surely. Like straight is messing. There's significantly less resistance in this right limb. Eventually, after several kilometers, he came across other people, a family of hikers. They saw him and recognised immediately that something was seriously wrong. What a bloody nub. He had a bloody nub. They gave him water and stayed with him while help was called. At the same time, a search had already begun. He was officially reported missing on the third day. Oh, okay. Um, after becoming trapped. Luckily, because of this, search and rescue teams were in the area. Which is crazy because they had no idea where to look. A helicopter was dispatched and located him not long after he was found by the hikers. So, like, they just gave a call. They're like, ah, we're in the area, we'll be right there. He was airlifted out of the canyon and taken to hospital. The arm he had removed in the canyon required formal surgical management. Yeah, they would have had to save it further, right? Yeah, disclose it. What he had done was not a clean amputation. What? Considering he snapped his bones against a rock. Surgeons complaining against home jobs, like, come on now, he saved his own life. Anyway, so surgeons need I could just hear them now, man. Anyway, surgeons needed to properly treat the wound, remove damaged tissues, and prevent infection. From what has been reported by healthcare professionals involved in the care, they were amazed at his strength of mind and character, as well as how many things had actually gone in his favour that led to his survival. Yeah. So it sounds like an unfortunate event, which it is, but like there was a series of things that worked out for him. His wound was viable and not necrotic. There was no catastrophic uncontrolled hemorrhage.

SPEAKER_01 36:29

Yeah, that's amazing.

SPEAKER_00 36:30

Um, he left enough tissue remaining to allow proper surgical closure.

SPEAKER_01 36:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 36:34

And critically, he had survived dehydration and exposure long enough to get himself out to definitive care.

SPEAKER_01 36:42

I wonder if the dehydration helped the fact that he didn't bleed out. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 36:46

Yes, I reckon. Yeah, you'd think. That's my that's that's logical. In the days and weeks and probably the adrenaline, like it squeezes your blood vessels closed. In the days and weeks that followed, his recovery continued. He adapted to life without his right forearm. That included wound healing, rehab, and eventually being fitted with a prosthetic. But what's amazing is how quickly he returned to the lifestyle that had put him there in the first place. Don't you love it? Don't you love it?

SPEAKER_01 37:10

I mean, I could I do kind of like that. Like I love the surfers that get bitten by a shark and then get back in the water. Yeah. Fuck it, finish the java. It's like it's more like nothing will stop me. The ocean's like, finish him. It's like give it your best shot, but I'm not gonna give up. It's so unlikely that it'll happen again.

SPEAKER_00 37:26

Within a relatively short period of time, he was climbing and hiking again using a prosthetic. He returned to mountaineering and continued pursuing the same goals he had before, including climbing Colorado's 14 years. I don't like the name, it doesn't roll off the tongue. He later spoke publicly about the experience, wrote about it, and used it to highlight both survival and decision making, including the importance of letting people know where you're going. Glad he learned his lesson. It only took an hour. After everything that happened, Aaron Ralston didn't describe his survival as luck or chance. He described it as a decision. He later said, I chose not to die. Plain and simple.

SPEAKER_01 38:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 38:03

Um, and that really captures what happened in that canyon. It wasn't one moment, but a series of choices made under extreme conditions and critical thinking. Um, to keep trying, keep thinking, and ultimately doing what was necessary to get out. From a medical perspective, his survival depended on timing, physiology, and just enough stability to make it out. But none of that matters without the fact that he acted when he did. In the end, it wasn't just that he survived, it's how he survived. That at every stage he made the decision to keep going. The end. That's amazing. I know. That's truly incredible. It is incredible. It's not the only one that's had miraculous survivals. Anyway, what shall we do next? The catacombs. Okay. The catacombs. Roger. I love a gothic tale. Alright. But there was something else we said we should do. Wolf Creek. We should do that um diver who lives after 20 minutes with no oxygen.

SPEAKER_01 38:56

Oh, the movie that you watched.

SPEAKER_00 38:58

True story.

SPEAKER_01 38:59

Yeah. In Scotland. In Scotland. Scotland. With the Highland cows. The hulin koos.

SPEAKER_00 39:05

That's how they say it.

SPEAKER_01 39:06

The hulan cows.

SPEAKER_00 39:06

The hoolin kus. Alright. I'm gonna go. Alright, well, thank you so much for talking shit with me. You're so welcome. I'm gonna have to cut half of this out and make a second episode, I think, because it is two hours long. If you want to become a subscriber and get early episodes, you could do that. That'd be amazing. Click the link. Um, and yeah, become a subscriber, that'd be awesome. And follow my Instagram and send me an email if you have a request. And I love you, and I'll see you in the next one. Bye.