Featured Image Credit: GoFundMe
Topics: GoFundMe, Health, Mental Health, US News, Travel
Joe Harker
A family are raising money for their 14-year-old son after he started hallucinating on a hike and walked off the edge of a cliff.
Zane Wach was climbing Mount Whitney, California, with his dad Ryan on 10 June when the teenager started showing signs of altitude sickness.
According to SFGate, the father and son had managed to reach the mountain summit but had a trek of several miles back down to Ryan's car when Zane started hallucinating.
His father explained that Zane 'saw things like snowmen and Kermit the Frog', though the 14-year-old started feeling 'considerably better' as they made their way down the mountain.
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However, about an hour later, Zane started seeing things again and his dad told SFGate what he could see from his son, explaining: "He was in an altered mental state, and I don’t know what caused it. We still don’t know.
"My best guess is a combination of exhaustion, sleep deprivation, probably some dehydration and lasting effects from the altitude sickness. But he essentially started to doubt reality."
While making their way down the mountain they had to stop because Zane thought they'd already made it back down, and Ryan explained that his son told him he 'couldn’t tell if he was dreaming or not' and would keep saying 'this is not real.'
Another group of hikers contacted search and rescue as they were concerned about the teenager and Zane kept moving towards a ledge that had a steep drop off the edge of it.
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Ryan stopped his son from going over and the teenager said it was the way to the car, and when the father stopped his son from going over again, the boy said he'd just been going to get dinner.
The man said he was 'scared and frustrated', and was wiping away tears when his son walked for the edge again and this time the man 'couldn't get to him' and saw that his son had 'walked off the edge.'
He reckons his son fell about 120ft, with nearby hikers alerting search and rescue.
It was about six hours before a rescue helicopter was able to arrive and take the teenager to hospital where he was placed in a medically induced coma.
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Zane broke his ankle, a finger and part of his pelvis, and suffered some serious head trauma, with doctors saying it was 'fairly miraculous' that he didn't end up with more injuries.
A GoFundMe has been set up for the 14-year-old, which you can donate to here, to help the Wach family pay for the cost of their son's healthcare.
His family are hoping he makes a full recovery.