Student hit with $1.2m medical bill after falling in Yosemite

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A student has been hit with a $1.2m medical bill after falling while climbing in Yosemite National Park and breaking “nearly every bone in her body”.

Anna Parsons, 21, from New Zealand fell while climbing Runout Slab at Snake Dike at the national park on 1 August.

Her left foot ended up being so badly impaired that the choice was made to amputate it instead of suffering significantly limited mobility.

The climber fell 24 metres (80 feet), according to Climbing magazine.

Ms Parsons’s older sister, Jessica Ennor, wrote on the fundraising site Give a Little that “Anna had a huge fall on a runout slab” and that she “broke nearly every bone in her body including her neck, spine, pelvis, ribs, and feet. Her left foot is beyond repair and so has been amputated. Anna’s head is completely fine and she remained conscious throughout. This is nothing short of a miracle”.

Ms Ennor added that the road to recovery will be long “but if anyone can do it, Anna can,” adding that she’s “strong” and “determined” with a lot of “willpower to move forward”.

“Money is something we don’t like to stress about but Anna’s medical bills exceed $1 million. Her travel insurance only covers a part of the costs of her surgeries and hospital care so we need to fundraise for the rest!” the sister said.

Ms Parsons slipped and rolled down a steep part of the rock, hitting a ledge as she fell. Ms Ennor told The New Zealand Herald that “the only things that weren’t broken were her arms, her thigh bones and her head, which is amazing”.

“It was a hard decision to take her foot off, but it’s the best way for her to get back to doing those things that she loves,” she added. “She’s a very fun-loving, family-orientated, outgoing, hardworking and studious person, passionate about environmental issues.”

“She loves surfing, rock climbing, mountain biking, tramping, that’s her lifestyle,” Ms Ennor told The Herald.

Ms Parsons is in her third year at the University of Otago in southeastern New Zealand, where she studies marine ecology.

She earned a scholarship to spend some time at the Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre in British Columbia, Canada.

Ms Ennor said she travelled to North America ahead of her studies at the centre to do some climbing.

“She has been rock climbing for a couple of years, but I wouldn’t say she was experienced,” Ms Ennor told The Herald. “Runout Slab was supposed to be an easy climb.”

Ms Parsons was taken from the mountain to hospital by a rescue team via helicopter.

“Doctors say she will be able to walk,” Ms Ennor said. “We weren’t sure for a couple of days, but she can now move her knees and wiggle her toes.”

“So once that reconstructive surgery has healed, she’ll have to learn to walk again with a prosthetic,” she added.

She said Ms Parsons has been “getting very overwhelmed with emotion” concerning her luck for being “alive, saved and spared” but that “she’s also very up and down” because at times “the pain’s too much”.

“We know it’s going to be a long journey, but she’s amazingly positive and she’s already talking about being an amazing marine scientist with one leg, hiking through the mountains, testing algae,” Ms Ennor told the paper.

As of Friday morning, the fundraiser for her medical costs had reached almost $250,000, halfway toward its $500,000 goal.

“We felt very comfortable climbing together,” Ms Parsons’s climbing partner Jack Evans told Climbing magazine. “We had our systems dialled.”

“The helmet she was wearing was completely demolished,” he added. “It was extremely lucky that she had it on.”

Ms Parsons’s brother Ben told the outlet that when the time came to decide if her foot should be amputated, the family was “trying to do research, help her weigh the options”.

“It was a big, tough decision. But eventually, Anna just made the call – ‘nope, this is what I’m doing.’ She didn’t care about the amputation, she just wanted to choose whatever would help her get back to surfing, climbing, doing the things she loves. That’s just the kind of person she is,” he told Climbing.