The father of Grace Tam, the 11-year-old girl who was struck by a giant chunk of ice at the Big Four Ice Caves on Saturday, has written a diary describing what happened. These are his words.
Our family outing begin at about 11:00 to the ice caves at Verlot. We arrived about 11:40. We reach the top about 12:30 PM, took a lunch break. Peanut butter &Jam for myself, rice ball &various meat (Salami &Jerky) for others.
We reach the 2nd caves about 13:40. The chunk of ice hit Grace about 14:00. Fellow hikers help carry her down &rested her on a flat surface. At 1st glance it look like she broke her left leg only.
One of the person helping said he is a nurse, two other ladies also are nurse.
We kept her warm with several donated jackets, shirts Etc. We kept talking to her to keep her awake. She said she was not in pain just cannot feel her legs.
We asked her question such as:
What’s your favorite food? Answer “Pasta”
Who’s your favorite teacher? Answer “Mister Daoust”
Who’s your best friend? Answer “Carrie”
What’s her last name? Answer “Cha Cha Cha” Actually her last name is Cha, Grace has a sense of humor
What’s your favorite fruit? Answer “Mango, but it gives me rash”
Who’s your favorite singer? Answer “Taylor Swift”
What’s your favorite TV show? Answer “Hanna Montana”
This went on for about 1 hour the only complain was she feel dehydrated &we give her little bits of water. We kept her head from moving around with a rock on each side &her head resting on a couple of sweat shirts.
After 1 hour one of the nurse said she cannot find her pulse so they started CPR, her eyes were dilated. They did this for 50 minutes, they also try to put oxygen into her with a drinking tube from my wife’s drinking bottle.
The 1st help finally come, just a park ranger with nothing except a radio. Then shortly after 2nd help (EMT Emergency Medical Team) came. The volunteers kept asking do you have suction &they do not. The 3rd help arrived about 16:15 they had a defibrillator . They tried to give Grace a couple shock treatment &it soon fail for the battery was gone after may be two or three times. The person that operated the machine did not know how to change the battery but when they finally changed the battery they found out the back up battery was not charged.
As I recalled it was at least 2 hours before the 1st help arrive.
During the time Tamami (My wife) asked what wrong with Grace, the answer was she need to breath, she need air. Grace throw up her lunch (Rice, with meat) all over her face.
During the time Tamami &I asked is help on the way. The answer was yes, but there was no cell phone service. I asked the ranger does he have a satellite phone &he answered no.
We were not inside the caves, we were standing about 15 to 17 feet in front of the cave. I was farther forward trying to take a picture for them. The ice came down on the ground then rolled forward bounce over Grace &landed in front of her not on top of her.
In life it is not how we spent our time with our children rather it is QUALITY time spent. It’s to late to say I like to do things differently but we try our best to spend time with them (Our children Grace &William). Now the time ended with Grace &we must realize &remember her as she was &all the QUALITY time we have had will never end.
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