NPN member in serious accident while shooting

I wanted to let everyone know about a serious accident fellow photographer Ed Cooley had here in my home state of Arkansas. Ed post mostly on CSNP and on ESS. He has taken many workshops from many members of NPN from all over the US. We have had a very rare rainy fall in Arkansas and Ed made difficult hike to a beautiul waterfall known as Twin Falls. While there the bluff above the falls gave way and Ed fell over 30 feet. He broke his pelvis, ankle and collar bone in the fall and landed in the cold water. THANK GOD Ed had a SPOT personal tracker. He pressed the 911 button with notified the authorities of the emergency and his location. He laid in the water for hours before help arrived and it took all night to rescue Ed from this steep creek drainage. Ed is in the hospital where he has had surgery and has more to come.

You can read more of the details about Ed's ordeal on the CSNP forum. The thread is "Search and resue in the Devils fork drainage?"

http://www.naturephotographers.net/imagecritique/bbs.cgi?a=vm&mr=48174&CGISESSID=e0689606c8a6b152b23a24155efa1a9e&u=10074

Ed needs out thought's and prayers right now. He has a long tough road of recovery ahead. Here is an update from Ed in his own words from an e-mail.

"I had surgery yesterday in fayetteville then came by ambulance to st. Francis north in tulsa. I have the pelvic surgery tomorrow and a third in the queue for my leg. The prognosis is good. Doc said it would take many months of therapy but suspected a complete covery if I did the work.

I apreciate your prayers and have been surprised by the outpouring of love and support."

What a horrible ordeal, definitely will wish the best and say some prayers for Ed.

Wow, glad he is stable and in the hospital after a fall like that, hope he gets well soon.

How terrible! I hope he has a quick recovery from that terrible accident.

Thanks for letting us know about Ed's awful and corageous ordeal. It's also great to hear that he'll do the work and recover! Get well, Ed!

Get well soon Ed! I guess the SPOT was worth every penny then, I might have to put it on my x-mas wish list.

Thank goodness for the Cold water too, I've seen tons of reports on how a sort of Hyperthermia can save your life! Hope he recovers rapidly!

Gale, thanks so much for providing the details on Ed's ordeal. I'm so glad to hear it had a "happy" ending, and hope for his full and speedy recovery.

For those of us frequently traveling alone in remote locations, Ed's story is certainly a great testimonial for a SPOT device. I was not familiar with this technology and was immediately interested in learning more. After reading the extensive positive and negative customer reviews on Amazon, I will be looking forward to seeing if the new model will address the current issues. Obviously, when it works, it's worth every penny.

Thanks Gale for providing information about Ed. Happy to hear that he is stable and recovering. Will include Ed in prayers and positive thoughts for complete recovery.

Bill Brennan

Get well soon Ed, we are all shocked by your ordeal. I just wrote the below short article for a local photo club newsletter, but my problems were nothing compared to your experience! Lucky you had the Spot device with you.

We'll be thinking of you.


Loveland Club newsletter, October 09.

This month's column is written by LPS Member Bill Meikle

Adventure Sport?

Is photography an adventure sport? Well that's just plain silly isn't it? Or is it? Here are a few of the events that I have had, see how they line up with yours.

- Stood (knees knocking) on the very edge of a 1000ft cliff on an overhang overlooking Horseshoe Bend in Arizona, on loose gravel in the half light.
- Climbed over a wire fence to stand on a log to get a better viewpoint to film a field of sunflowers and the log rolled away! Landed with all my weight on my thigh on the top wire, camera undamaged, thigh marked for life.
- Filmed falling aspen leaves then fell over a log and landed among the aspen leaves, smashed my camera into another log, cut my elbow, scraped my arm, bruised my shoulder. Camera undamaged (amazingly). My whistle and cellphone (no service anyway) were all in the car of course!
- Stood on loose boulders in a hail storm on top of a 14,000ft mountain trying to film goats! (How dumb is that?)
- Clambered up a waterfall in the early dawn among slippery rocks and through an icy stream, just for a few frames which I didn't like anyway.
- Filming fall color, scrambling through the fallen trees in the woods, fell over (again) and landed on my tripod and camera. Camera and tripod were fine, I was bruised.
- Hiked up through thick woods before dawn on a freezing cold morning (at 10,000ft), scrambled up a rockfall, got my photos then heard later from other photographers that a black bear had been seen stalking us. She had two cubs apparently!
- Filming a black bear sow, who had two cubs sleeping up a nearby tree, she was walking along feeding on grass on one side of the car and I was filming her from the other side! (I did have the car door open just in case!)
- Standing quietly filming an elk herd and then suddenly realizing that they trusted me and ignored me and had accidentally completely surrounded me, bulls and all!
- Running, yes running up the trail to Bierstadt lake before dawn because I was late and would miss the sunrise. I was gasping for air, later my wife said "well at least you would have died doing something you love!"

So what's the message here? Bill, you better be more careful, you aren't getting any younger? And I'm the guy who carries a whistle, cellphone, compass, map, firelighter and watches all those survivor programs etc!

Folks, we all love our photography, and we love the outdoors so let's make sure that we have fun, enjoy the adventure AND stay safe!

Yikes! A good reminder to all of us to be careful out there.

Get well soon, Ed! And here's to a fast and full recovery!!

Please pass Ed our prayers for a quick and easy recovery.

I decided to share Ed's information and story on some of the other forums. I thought the outpouring of thoughts and prayers from other NPN member was appropriate. I also knew Ed has taken several workshops from other members on NPN that would want to know also.

I got a nice e-mail from Ed's son-in-law today and wanted to just pass the information along.

"I am Ed's son-in-law and thought that you might like to hear the latest.

He is in very good spirits and is in a pretty good bit of pain but is thankful to be alive. His injuries were a broken collarbone, shattered ankle and an open book pelvic fracture. He had a surgery at Washington Regional Friday afternoon to clean out his leg to reduce the risk of infection. They cut off the part of the bone that was sticking out and put an external fixator on his leg to hold it in place.

He spent Saturday in Fayetteville visiting with friends and family for most of the day. This was a huge encouragement for all of us. He was transported to St Francis in Tulsa on Sunday afternoon where he will see a trauma specialist. His wife Faith and daughter Lizzy are there with him. Lizzy is my wife and is currently pregnant with Ed's third grandchild. The third grandbaby should really boost his spirits even more in the next month.

As of right now he is scheduled to have his pelvic fracture repaired at 230 Tuesday and they will repair his ankle on Wednesday or Thursday. Everything is going very well considering the accident. He should be back in Northwest Arkansas next week to begin the recovery process.

I have setup and email address for anyone who would like to send a message to Ed. I will get these and take them to Ed later this week. The address is ed@traviswilliams.net.

I also post updates on my twitter account and my blog.
http://twitter.com/Travis_Williams
http://www.traviswilliams.net

Ed also has a twitter account and blog but I am not sure when he will be posting. I know he posted a tweet last night.
http://twitter.com/edcooley
http://www.whiterivergallery.com/blog

Once again, our entire family thanks you and everyone else that helped save Ed's life.

--
Travis Williams"

Let's all send a quick e-mail to let Ed know we are thinking of him.

Here's hoping for a speedy recovery!

Wow. My thoughts and prayers are with you, Ed and your family. May you have a quick and pain free recovery.

Wow! What an ordeal! Hoping you have a speedy and full recovery, Ed! Get well soon!

My prayers are with you as well, Ed, and may you be able to be back out there (more safely) again very soon.

I didn't realize this thread was here until I discovered by accident today. (No pun intended).

I sincerely appreciate the prayers and encouragement from so many friends and acquaintances on NPN. Reviewing the images posted on NPN was a big part of keeping me sane during the recovery and rehab.

I have had a relatively smooth recovery and took my first hikes since the accident last week. It was so wonderful to be out and about again.

Thanks again and I hope to see many of you in the field.

Ed, really great to hear you are back at it and out hiking! Awesome!