Family thought they lost son after a 150-pound boulder fell on him—until a real-life 'angel' changed the outcome
Sometimes a stranger's help might feel like a godsend for a person. A family had that feeling when a stranger came in to help their 18-year-old son, who fell seven feet from a rock and then a 150-pound boulder fell on him. The mom and dad, Kristina and Kurt Borngrebe, thought that they had lost their son when they saw the harrowing incident. But after the son, Ethan, was airlifted and taken to the hospital, they were surprised by his speedy recovery, per KING 5 Seattle.
The Nebraska family was on vacation in Washington State when the incident happened. "My first thought was, I'd rather have a paralyzed son who's alive over a dead one," Kurt remarked. When the dad pulled the rock off his son, he was quite scared. The family couldn't call for help either, as none of their phones had a signal while they were on the beach. Another rock fell on Ethan's foot and injured him. "He was climbing the rock that was adjacent to the bridge (the trail), when Mother Nature decided that it was time for part of the rock to come off and my son ended up falling seven feet on his back to the rocks below and the Boulder that broke off landed on his chest and lacerated his hand. Then another one came down on his foot," Kristina wrote on Facebook.
But then Jacob, a tourist from the Czech Republic, came out to help the family and stayed with them for over 2 hours until the helicopter came to airlift the family from the beach. The dad shared that Jacob told them not to move the teen, per KING 5. He ensured that the family was okay and kept Ethan's siblings calm as he attended to him. He had ice for Ethan's fingers and even helped carry him to the helicopter. Kristina pointed out that many people on the beach felt that Jacob was a part of the family. The family was taken to the hospital and Ethan was expected to make a full recovery. "He was an angel, 100 percent," Kurt expressed with tears in his eyes. "He has kept coming up in conversations and we said, 'Do you think he was even real?'" Kristina went on.
"We want you to know Ethan survived with no damage to his ribs, back, or internal organs even though the 150lb boulder fell 15 feet onto his chest," the mom wrote for Jacob in the post. "His leg wasn’t broken as we all thought and in fact, it was almost completely healed by the time we got to the hospital that night." The bruising on Ethan's chest disappeared, too. "He needed reconstructive hand surgery as the boulder broke his fingers. And the gash in his thigh needed stitches." She called it an "unexplained miracle." The family initially hadn't managed to get the man's full name, but they found him later on and could thank him properly for helping them out.
Many people appreciated the man in the comments section of the post. Betty Jeffers wrote, "God Bless this angel named Jacob, a true hero. Hope you will meet up with him one day. I am glad your son will be ok. The Lord was definitely with your son that day." Julie Hagstrom Hembree commented, "I don’t know him, but this gives me hope knowing there are wonderful people around the world when you need them!" Janelle Vance remarked, "Thank you for sharing this story, so we can all send your son and Jacob the most beautiful gratitude and healing energy!"
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