Interview for "Angels in the Wilderness" Author Amy Racina

Reader Views is excited to be talking with Amy Racina, author of "Angels in the Wilderness." Amy is being interviewed by Juanita Watson, Assistant Editor of Reader Views.Juanita: Thanks for talking with us today Amy. Please tell your readers about the story you tell in "Angels in the Wilderness."Amy: Hello, Juanita. It's great to be talking with you too. And it's especially great to be alive. "Angels in the Wilderness" is a true-life story of adventure and survival. And also a story of miracles. In July of 2003, I was solo hiking in California's Kings Canyon National Park, when a hillside crumbled beneath me, and I suddenly found myself falling. Sixty feet. Onto solid rock. I didn't expect to live through the fall, but there I was. Still alive, completely alone in a remote part of the wilderness, with both legs and my hip broken in several places. I couldn't walk, crawl, or even stand up. I had lost my overgrown trail, so I was off-trail in an area where only a few people
hiked each season. "Angels in the Wilderness" is the story of how I survived for four days and nights, dragging myself along with my hands, refusing to give up, and how, against all odds, I was found and rescued by my three wilderness "Angels."Juanita: Amy, why did you decide to write a book about your incredible experience?Amy: I wrote "Angels in the Wilderness" because I had a very strong feeling that the reason that my life had been spared was so that I could tell my story --- that there are people out there, people I may never even meet, who need to hear my story, who need the messages and the inspiration that my experience provides. Maybe some of those people are reading this interview right now. I hope so.Juanita: What had been your experience with hiking and solo hiking?Amy: I'm an enthusiastic and experienced backpacker. My family had always been walkers and hikers. As I was growing up, we walked everywhere. I went on my first backpacking trip with my family when I
was 16, and I've loved it ever since. I started soloing when I was 23 (I'll be 50 this year) and I've hiked hundreds, perhaps thousands of miles. In 2003, I was stronger than I'd ever been. I'd planned a 170-mile loop trip through the Sierra Nevada Mountains.Juanita: As you set off on your journey, was there any indication, or even possible intuition, that could have forewarned the unbelievable events that you were about to experience?Amy: That's a good question, and one I've asked myself many, many times. My conclusion is: No. There was no warning, no intuitive voice that said, "don't go there" or go another way." And I'm usually sensitive to those kinds of signs and warnings. So I've come to believe that my fall was simply meant to happen.Juanita: How did you manage to keep your broken body alive for four days and nights?Amy: I used basic first-aid: I applied antibiotic ointment and disinfectant to the open wounds, and then bandaged them tightly to stop the bleeding. By
that time, I was shaking uncontrollably, and I realized that I was going into shock. I treated myself for shock by drinking hot liquids and wrapping myself up in my sleeping bag - my backpack with all of my gear had mercifully fallen nearby. I had enough water. I had fallen near a stream. I had some food left, although I could hardly eat.I prayed for help.And I made a plan. Making a plan kept my mind focused on what I could do to help myself, not on the likely end; a painful death alone in the backcountry.My plan was to drag myself, with my hands, down the ravine into which I had fallen, towards a larger trail. I knew where the trail was - it was about a mile and a half away - and I reasoned that I might be found if I could get to the trail.Juanita: Did you believe you were going to die?Amy: I knew that death was the probable outcome. The odds were stacked against me. But I didn't let my mind focus too much on that. I focused instead on what I could do to improve my chance
s of survival.Juanita: Knowing that being found would take nothing less than a miracle, what did you think about during those four days?Amy: I thought about my son, who would be left without a Mom if I didn't make it, I thought about how much I love my life, and the things I love about it. I thought about how I might eventually die, but I couldn't let myself focus on that too much. I thought about how I could stay alive for a little while longer, and what else I could do to help myself.Juanita: Throughout your experience in the wilderness, what did you find out about yourself that you didn't previously know?Amy: I've always known that I was a stubborn person. What I realize now is that it's not always a bad thing to be stubborn. Sometimes it's a real blessing.I know now how much I value my life.Little things don't bother me much anymore. Being stranded in the wilderness with broken legs helps to put things into perspective. Minor complaints seem pretty unimportant.And I kno
w how many people love me, and how much they would miss me if I weren't a part of this world.Juanita: Tell us a little about your incredible rescue.Amy: By the end of the third day, I had managed to drag myself to a place where I couldn't go any further. I had been calling out randomly, knowing that very few people hiked in this region. But just as I was calling out, three hikers were hiking by on a trail up above where I was stranded, and somehow they heard my distant calls. They were Jake, Leslie and Walter, probably the only three hikers who had come by in the time that I had been in the ravine, and they are the "Angels" for whom my book is named. I knew it was a miracle that they had heard me.We were 20 mountainous miles from the nearest trailhead and cell-phone access, so it took another 24 hours for help to be summoned to the remote place where I was stranded. There were many other miracles and many incredible people who contributed to my rescue. One of my angels made
a heroic 10-mile run, and with help from a group of vacationing firefighters with fast horses, a team of National Park Service Search and Rescue rangers, two helicopters, and a team of CHP medics, I was finally airlifted to the hospital, just hours before death.Juanita: What was the extent of your injuries and how long was your recovery process?Amy: I was much more badly injured than I had known. I had broken my left hip in two places, my right kneecap was shattered, and it was an open wound. The bones were displaced, and sticking through the skin, leaving a gaping infected hole where I used to have a knee. There were minor fractures of my left femur and right tibia. My right ankle was dislocated. A front tooth had snapped off, my nose was smashed, and I believe that several fingers were sprained; the most life-threatening problem was septic shock from bacterial infection from the open wounds. Sepsis impacts the body's vital organs, and kills within hours when it attacks.I
was in the hospital for three weeks, and had 8 surgeries, including a muscle and skin graft on my knee. When I was released from the hospital, I still could not stand up, or lift either leg off of the bed. Neither leg would support any weight at all, and I couldn't bend the right one. I had to take intravenous antibiotics for another month, and it took about 10 months of intensive physical therapy to teach me to walk again. It was very, very difficult, but I was too stubborn to give up.Juanita: What was the most profound emotion you experienced during excruciating four days and miraculous rescue?Amy: Gratitude. When my rescuers found me, when I realized that my prayers had been answered, that I had been given another chance at life, I was incredibly grateful. I still am.Juanita: With the extensive injuries you suffered, how has your body recovered? Do you still have any physical challenges related to your fall?Amy: I've recovered far better than any of the predictions. I
can walk, hike, backpack, swim, ride my bike. I have quite a few scars, a slightly impaired bend in my right knee, and I still have some aches and pains. I consider those to be minor after all I went through. I'm not back up to 100% of where I was before the fall, and I probably never will be. I can hike and swim about 3/4 the distance that I used to be able to. I can do just about everything I could do before, except jogging and deep knee bends. I make up for it by hiking more. It takes more work now to stay in shape, more stretching and more dedication.Juanita: Do you still backpack and solo trek into the wilderness?Amy: Yes. Backpacking, and especially soloing, is a beautiful experience for me, a very spiritual and a very peaceful one. As much as I love my life, I concluded that even it I had lost it, my time alone in the wilderness would have been worth it to me. That's how much I value the experience.Juanita: Are you fearful, and have you changed anything you do regard
ing heading out in to the wilderness?Amy: I'm not afraid to be alone, and I'm not afraid of hiking. I am very afraid of falling again. Sometimes I have flashbacks to the moments of the fall. So I avoid very narrow trails with a steep drop-off.I'm also looking into getting a PLB - that's a personal locator beacon, to be used only in case of extreme emergency. It works off of satellite technology. The U.S. Air force responds to an emergency signal, and they can locate you within a radius of 3 miles. PLBs have only been licensed in this country since July of 2003, but they have been very effective in other countries for years, and have been credited with saving many lives. I do want to come back alive.Juanita: Did you find that your spirituality has changed throughout your experience?Amy: I believe in miracles.I believe that my life has a specific purpose. I always suspected that before, but since that my life was almost lost, and has so clearly been given back to me, I am ce
rtain of it.I believe now that I am working in conjunction with God, that my life and my fate is a synthesis of divine plan and my own personal will, not solely dependent on one or the other.When I prayed for my life, one of the answers I got was that how much I cared about living might make a difference to the outcome of my adventure. The key word is might. I was gently led to understand that my deep desire to live was important, but that there would be no guarantees. So I figure that my rescue was a combination of my own will; I wanted to live --- and whatever plan the powers that be have laid out for my life.One of the gifts of any extreme survival experience is that it is an opportunity to get in touch with what you truly believe in. Spirituality is not just theoretical when your life is on the line.Juanita: Amy, do you think you are the same person you were before this incredible experience?Amy: Yes. I'm the same person. In a way, I appreciate myself more than I did be
fore. I appreciate my strengths, and I believe that even what I thought were weaknesses (like stubbornness) may actually be gifts. I am more comfortable with who I am. I know more who I am. I'm the woman who survived that experience in the ravine, the one who somehow deserved a miracle, the person whose friends loved her enough to support her while she healed. The one who's still alive.Juanita: Amy, what are your thoughts of courage?Amy: I don't ascribe much courage to myself. I just figure I did the best that I could under the circumstances. The only other option was to give up and die, and I didn't want to do that. I like to think that any of us, if faced with a similar situation, would do the very best that we could. Is it courage? Perhaps. But then again, maybe it's just common sense. I believe that we all have reserves of inner strength, given to us to be used in just such circumstances.Juanita: Amy, what do you ultimately want readers to understand by reading your boo
k and the journey of survival you went through?Amy: We can't always control what happens to us, but we can control how we react. Disaster sometimes strikes. Unexpected storms endanger us, tsunamis sweep our houses away, We experience fires or automobile accidents, face sudden health problems, or we're hiking in the woods, and take a sudden fall.It is my sincere hope that our readers will allow my story to inspire them to find their own strength, and use it to overcome their own challenges.Juanita: How can readers find out more about you and your endeavors?Amy:"Angels in the Wilderness" is available at independent booksellers everywhere, also at large bookstores, at libraries and on-line. I'm currently touring with my book, and I especially love to meet readers in person. My calendar and more information is on my website at Juanita: Amy, thank you for talking with us today. Your miraculous survival story will serve as great inspiration to readers, and we are all very happy
that you made it through this travailing part of your life. Do you have any last thoughts for your readers today?Amy: Thanks so much Juanita! Just a few final thoughts. Love your life. Never give up. And always believe in miracles.

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