Spring Break fall seriously injures USU track athlete
Brittany Fisher and a group of her friends headed south for Spring Break outdoor adventures, but early Monday morning her plans were changed when she fell about 60 feet to the earth while rappelling down a rock face.
A helicopter immediately transported her to University Hospital, in Las Vegas, where doctors confirmed she was paralyzed from the waist down.
A member of USU’s track team, Brittany Fisher was set to go to a track meet in Arizona later that week.
“I woke up to my roommate saying Haley, don’t freak out,” said Haley Evans, a junior at USU who grew up with Fisher in Naperville, Ill. “When I found out, I honestly was just like mad. I wasn’t mad at her, but I felt like she had been stolen away in the middle of the night. I felt like I just woke up and everything was different.”
Evans was sleeping in the condo where the group was staying, when Fisher and a male USU student decided to go rock climbing between 2 and 3 a.m., Evans said. It was dark when they started rappelling from the top of the 80-foot cliff.
Fisher used a left-handed rappelling system, Evans said, and her hand got caught. When she started going too fast she reached up with her right hand to grab the rope and stop herself, but the friction gave her a second-degree burn on that hand. At that point, Fisher let go of the rope and she fell the rest of the way, landing on the ground at a diagonal – first landing on her feet and falling to her back, Evans said.
“It’s honestly a miracle that she didn’t hit her head,” Evans said. “Nothing happened with her brain, she was never out of it. She was conscious and talking all the way until the helicopter got there.”
The male who was with her at the time climbed back up the cliff to the car where they left their phones and called for help. He turned the hazard lights on so they would be found, Evans said.
Fisher broke the tibia of her right leg and endured a 10-hour surgical procedure Monday to insert a rod into her leg. Her left foot was completely shattered and doctors are scheduled to do surgery Monday, Evans said.
Fisher also broke her back in two places – at the T-5 and T-12 thoracic vertebrae.
“I got here close to 11 p.m. last night and she was asleep,” said Braden Fisher, Brittany’s older brother. “At first I just looked at her and sobbed. Thirty to 40 minutes later, she woke up and was like normal. There are times where she is her normal self, but there are moments where she sees the reality of her condition.”
At this point, Brittany Fisher has some sensation in her toes and doctors are optimistic she will walk again, Braden Fisher said, but no one is completely certain.
She will be transported this week to a rehabilitation center in Colorado, he said, and stay there for 4-8 weeks. After that, she will spend the next 12-18 months fighting for the ability to walk again, her brother said, and maybe one day will again be able to run.
“You hear the good and the bad,” Braden Fisher said. “Everything good is going for her with being young, athletic, having a good attitude and good health. It’s the best it could be.”
He said he is confident in his sister’s ability to come out of the situation she is in, but waiting for results is – and will be – the most difficult part.
“She kept asking all the people at the hospital if she would be able to run tomorrow,” Evans said. “Honestly, she was amazing. Of course, there was a bunch of regret, and all these emotions hitting her, but Brittany was positive the whole time and was thanking everyone – the whole time – that was helping her.”
Fisher will be missed on the track team as a major support to her teammates, Greg Gensel, USU head coach for track and cross-country, said.
“She’s inspiring to everybody,” Gensel said. “Before her accident, she would – and she still will be – she’s a great worker. She has a great work ethic. She always encourages other people, both in running and just life in general. She’s what you want in an athlete and a friend, because she’s always very supportive of what you’re doing and wants you to have success.”
– catherine.meidell@aggiemail.usu.edu