“I thought he was dying”; Kelowna woman recalls harrowing ordeal of tree falling on her and her son – Okanagan | 24CA News
It was July Third when Yvonne Hildebrandt and her son Michael Hildebrandt, 31, determined to go and calm down at Kinsmen Park in Kelowna.
With books in hand, the pair picked a spot by the lake about 20 to 30 toes away from a mature willow tree.
Little did they know that their peaceable afternoon would flip right into a terrifying ordeal.
“When it came down and I heard the crack, I was in complete disbelief,” Hildebrandt mentioned.
Yvonne Hildebrandt exhibits Global News the tree that was liable for badly injuring her son. The mature willow tree has now been completely chopped down by the City of Kelowna.
Global News
The sound of the crack they heard got here from the willow tree. By the time they appeared up, a big part of it got here crashing down on high of them.
“It basically, violently threw me to the ground, hit me from behind on my left arm and clubbed my hand as I landed, and of course all the whoosh of the leaves landed on my head,” Hildebrandt advised Global News.
But Michael bought the brunt of it. He suffered damaged ribs, a dislocated hip and severe accidents to his face.
“I see him over where my towel is still, and his head is against the tree. And he’s moaning and all I could cry out was ‘Michael, Michael, Michael’,” Hildebrandt mentioned. “It was terrifying for me as his mom because the blood was pouring out of his face and gurgling. His eyes were rolling back in his head, and I thought he was dying.”
That’s when Hildebrandt mentioned two beachgoers rushed to his assist.
“It was probably within 30 seconds. And they basically took care of him right away,” she mentioned. “They rolled him to his right to let the blood start to pour out the right side.”
Hildebrandt doesn’t know who the pair was however is grateful for his or her assist.
“One lady identified herself as a nurse and the other was a man, I know he identified himself as a professional medic,” Hildebrandt mentioned.
Michael stays at Kelowna General Hospital greater than two weeks after the incident. He has already undergone two facial reconstruction surgical procedures and has yet one more to go.
In addition to the assistance of the great samaritans, Michael’s profession within the medical subject can also be being credited for serving to save his life.
“The doctor basically said to Michael that he had saved his own life,” she mentioned. “Michael’s medical knowledge at this time being a respiratory therapist and being a perfusionist helped him save his own life. He was able to spit out the blood and time his inhalation according to when he’d spit out so he didn’t choke himself to death.”
Hildebrandt mentioned each she and Michael are grateful to be alive.
She has a photograph of her son holding an indication in hospital room studying, “Thank you from the Michael Hildebrandt family”, with a coronary heart on it.
Micheal Hildebrandt shows a thanks sign up his hospital room for all of the care he has acquired.
Yvonne Hildebrandt
The gratitude is expressed in the direction of all of the medical workers on the hospital, the paramedics and people two unknown beachgoers that fateful day.
“I would call them angels of mercy,” Hildebrandt mentioned. “I would love to meet them someday and I know Michael especially would love to meet them someday and say thank you.”
The City of Kelowna lower down the rest of the tree in query the day after the incident, saying on the time, it believed current wind storms might have compromised the tree.
The metropolis acknowledged it will assess all the different bushes within the park in addition to bushes in different lakeside parks.
© 2023 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
