@Hector_Shar_Pei So sorry for your loss. May he rest in peace with all of the other sweet baby angels up there. Wishing you and your family peace and love. So sad to hear.
Does anyone actually believe seeking out mental health help is stigmatized? It's the opposite of stigma..whatever that word is. Its so out of control people will post diagnoses in their twitter bio, we have an adderral shortage in the U.S., people going to their GP's asking for drugs for negative emotional states, venture capitalists buying up mental health centers, sham companies popping up everywhere to provide someone to talk to and a drug...
It's the opposite of stigma. It's an industry completely out of control.
🚨 BREAKING NEWS 🚨
A MIRACLE AT 11,800 FEET
HIKER DAVID CIFALDI CHEATED DEATH ON MONTANA'S HIGHEST PEAK
If you believe in miracles, look no further than the rugged, unrelenting slopes of Granite Peak, Montana.
On July 20, local ER and wound care nurse David Cifaldi set off with two friends on a brutal, 10-mile trek up Montana’s highest summit. At 11,800 feet above sea level surrounded by jagged boulders and snowfields a single, ordinary misstep turned what should have been a glorious climb into a terrifying test of human survival.
David stepped on a loose rock, lost his balance, and fell directly onto his own trekking pole.
In a fraction of a second, the shaft of the pole impaled his side, piercing through his torso and exiting his back with nearly eight inches of metal and carbon fiber wedged deep within his body.
By every law of probability, this should have been a tragedy. An impalement high in the backcountry usually means rapid internal bleeding, punctured lungs, destroyed organs, or immediate shock. Yet, in what can only be called divine precision, the pole somehow missed every single vital organ, major artery, and critical nerve.
Where most people would have panicked, David’s background as an ER nurse kicked in. Realizing he wasn't hemorrhaging and that his breathing was stable, he knew the golden rule of impalement injuries: never pull the object out. Removing it on the mountain would have triggered uncontrollable internal bleeding.
What followed was nothing short of miraculous.
Rather than wait hours for an emergency helicopter extraction in harsh alpine winds, David made the astounding decision to walk out under his own power. For over six and a half hours, with a trekking pole literally sticking out of his torso, David trekked 10 miles back down through boulder fields, snow, and steep mountain terrain.
Even in the grips of unimaginable stress, his spirit never broke. In a remarkable show of thoughtfulness, he even asked his companions to hike ahead of him near Mystic Lake to warn passing families—ensuring young children wouldn't be frightened by the shocking sight of a man hiking with a pole through his side.
After a two-hour drive to the hospital in Billings, doctors successfully removed the pole, which had remained inside his body for nearly nine hours.
Call it professional training, call it superhuman resilience, or call it an absolute miracle. David Cifaldi walked off a mountain that should have claimed his life. It’s a breathtaking reminder of the thin line between disaster and survival, and a story that anyone who hears it won't soon forget.