It’s a miracle that Ken Dosen is alive, say grateful friends and family, after a horrific ATV accident near Cultus Lake Saturday.
Efforts by rescuers and emergency responders from Chilliwack are being heralded in this triumphant story of survival.
Dosen ended up sliding 300 feet down a steep embankment on an ATV, with the vehicle rolling over him at least twice.
The Port Coquitlam man had been camping in the Chilliwack area, and was out quadding for the afternoon with a friend, on the Liumchen bench road near Cultus Lake.
Somehow Dosen suddenly found himself unable to stop from sliding over the edge. It was nothing less than a horrifying sight for his friend.
Dosen suffered serious injuries, and is in tremendous pain in a neck cast, but is recuperating this week at Royal Columbian.
After the fall, his friends banded together, used ropes to shimmy down the cliff to be with their friend, as shock was setting in. They welcomed the sound of helicopters and he was rescued by SAR personnel using long-line rescue techniques, and then airlifted for emergency treatment of neck injuries.
His friends later went back and undertook a seven-hour mission to retrieve the ATV. It was in a remote spot that has apparently caused trouble for several recreational riders in the past. There’s a memorial cross nearby, and pieces of other machines down below.
Leslie Rupp wrote a thank you letter this week, on behalf of Dosen’s family to the Chilliwack Search and Rescue personnel and other first responders who assisted that day.
“We owe you such a debt of gratitude for your rescue of our dear friend, Ken Dosen,” she wrote.
They were all “blown away” by the fact that SAR is operated on 100 per cent volunteer labour.
“This dedication to the public’s safety goes beyond words.”
A lovely day of quadding turned into a nightmare for his good friend who had to helplessly watch Dosen go over the edge. Then he had to leave his buddy down at the site to go get help as quickly as possible.
“The speed in which Search and Rescue, paramedics, ambulances arrived, the rescue with long line and helicopter team, saved his life,” she wrote.
jfeinberg@theprogress.com
Twitter.com/chwkjourno
