Posted on 05/15/2008 1:40:53 PM PDT by jazusamo
Finding strength in faith, Anne Hjelle is determined to recover after she was mauled while mountain biking in a wilderness park.
A young woman walked into a restaurant last week and sat close enough to get a good look at Anne Hjelle's face. A mountain lion had torn off the left side four years before, leaving it hanging by a flap of skin. Six surgeries hadn't camouflaged the scars.
"She saw me and had a deer-in-the-headlights look," said Hjelle, 35, of Mission Viejo. "She quickly got up and moved so she didn't have to look at me."
The stranger's reaction didn't hurt Hjelle's feelings.
"I've had to learn the hard way that beauty comes from within," she said.
Since being mauled by a mountain lion Jan. 8, 2004, while biking in Orange County's Whiting Ranch Wilderness Park, Hjelle has been purposefully knocking down the fears borne from the jaws of a cougar. It's a determination driven by her love of the outdoors, the discipline and toughness drilled into her as a Marine, the courage gained as a competitive mountain biker and her belief that the Bible instructs her to "fear not."
A week after the attack -- her 40 bite marks and wounds held together by 200 stitches and staples -- she hiked to the spot where the cougar ambushed her, taking the lead as family and friends followed. It was her first step in making sure she wasn't going to be "a prisoner of the drama."
On a sunny winter afternoon in early 2004, Hjelle headed out for a ride with Debi Nicholls, a woman whose intensity during the rides matched Hjelle's.
Barreling down Cactus Hill Trail, a narrow dirt path that slices through tall brush and fields of cactuses, Hjelle saw a blur leaping from the brush...
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
“Those are attractive “cougars.” :) “
I’ve never run into anything like that out in the woods.
And I’d be real easy to catch, too.
Thanks for the ping!
I have to confess that I thought this was going to be some whiney testimony from a California liberal. But this lady is a former Marine, a helicopter mechanic, and one tough customer. She is no whiner. She sounds humble and brave.
She must wonder why God saved her and what purpose He has for her life.
Absolutely! I believe her being a former Marine more or less says it all.
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