Posted on 12/28/2003 1:36:06 PM PST by WaterDragon
Thanksgiving is more than just a word or a holiday for Mischelle Hileman and her family. Mischelle and her parents, Jan and Benny Hileman, who all live in rural Lostine, weren't sure last week if they'll be eating turkey or pizza on Thanksgiving Day, but they did know they would be together and it wouldn't be in a hospital.
"Last year they chopped my legs off on Thanksgiving eve," said Mischelle, not a person to mince words or evade the truth. All of Wallowa County knows the basic story of how Hileman miraculously survived a week in a rugged deep canyon north of Wallowa through temperatures that dipped below zero during elk season.
In fact, Hileman's story is known all over Oregon and far beyond. It's very rare that anyone survives an ordeal like hers as long as she did....(snip)
Despite her loss, Mischelle Hileman said there's not a day she's not happy to be alive. She points to the things she is able to do now: walk, drive a car with hand controls, swim, spend time with her family and friends.
"The community has been incredible," she said of the outpouring of love and support, from pie auctions, to cards, messages and donations for medical expenses, that came her way after her survival.
She said she was "awestruck, dumbfounded " by the after-dark parade in Wallowa organized for her homecoming after 67 very long days in the hospital. Speaking slowly and carefully to try to express how she felt, Hileman said, "You don't think anybody notices you. And then for so many to acknowledge you is humbling."
Hileman doesn't mind talking what she remembers about her life-changing experience in the woods, but says people have a hard time believing part of it.
"Do you believe that there are guardian angels?" she asked. "Well, believe it."
Hileman's experience started simply enough. On a day hunting trip on Oct. 27 with her father, they separated and Mischelle ended up following three elk into a deep canyon. She realized it was starting to get dark and it would be prudent of her to spend the night and walk out in the morning. Hileman planned to start a fire, but when the lighter she was sure she put in her fanny pack wasn't there, she toughed out a cold, wet night in the canyon.
In the morning she started to walk out, but slipped and fell into a hole, and two sticks punctured her leg from knee cap to ankle. "I hobbled, I crawled, I cried," recalled Mischelle. She had heard shots and knew people were looking for her, but no one answered her answering shots. She made a "nest" under a tree with boughs and branches not too far from the creek, and waited to be found. About the second night the temperature plunged, and Mischelle first saw her angels. "Nobody believes me, but I saw two angels - they were the most brilliant gold color you can imagine , one at my side and one at my feet," she said.
"No, I wasn't cold. ... They kept me warm." Hileman said the angels came every night and left every morning....(snip)
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(Excerpt) Read more at oregonmag.com ...
Yep ! And what a great sense of humor ...
"I always did want to be shorter," joked Hileman. Laughter is one way that the Hileman family has coped with Mischelle's situation ever since she was found alive, said her mother. Putting the prosthesis on every day is a frustrating process, but Hileman is more than a little happy just to be back on her own two feet. "Have you ever cooked bacon from a wheelchair," she asked. "Your eyes are right at the level of the splashing grease."There are definitely some disadvantages to not having your own legs, she admits. Mischelle went deer hunting this year, but did her hunting from a stand because she isn't able to hike or navigate uneven ground yet. She loves to fish, but said her favorite fishing holes are now inaccessible.
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