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Jaybird
01-23-2005, 12:24
ck it out! from todays Tennessean (Nashville,TN) newspaper. (1/23/2005)


Part of hiker's foot cut off after infection



A hiker lost in the Smokies for four days has suffered an infection that cost him part of his right foot, two toes and possibly more, doctors said.

David Dinwiddie, 62, was rescued after his December hike in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

He needed rangers to help pull him from the mountain but was released from the University of Tennessee Medical Center on Dec. 27.

Shortly thereafter, Dinwiddie suffered an infection to his right foot, and on Tuesday doctors had to remove part of his foot. Dinwiddie said he may need more surgery.

''I don't know how much I will be able to hike after all of this,'' he said. ''But I will do as much as I possibly can. And I'm hoping for the best. I'm going to give it all I've got, just like I did to keep myself alive.''

Dinwiddie was stranded after he slipped and fell on the Appalachian Trail and became entangled in branches. He took his gloves off to remove his backpack to help get untangled. By the time he finished, his fingers were frozen.

But Dinwiddie decided not to risk hiking out. He was only a short distance from where he was to meet friends and thought they would come looking for him. Instead, they had cut their trip short without telling him because of the inclement weather.

Dinwiddie, a veteran with extensive military survival training, had a sleeping bag but no tent because he intended to stay in shelters. His frozen fingers didn't allow him to use a small stove to cook the food he did have with him, and when park rangers reached him on Dec. 22, he was hypothermic and disoriented.

At first, doctors were initially worried that he was at risk of losing some of his fingers.

''They looked real bad, kind of like hot dogs roasting over a fire,'' he said.

''But I think they'll be all right now.''

Dinwiddie has already started rehabilitation work and zips up and down the hospital halls with the help of a walker.

''Maybe I can put special wheels on this and take it into the mountains,'' he said.

— Associated Press

SGT Rock
01-23-2005, 12:28
Glad to see he kept those fingers, they looked bad. Ihope he finds a way back to the trail.

Jack Tarlin
01-23-2005, 16:51
If anyone has an address (either hospital or home) for David, could you please post it here?

I, for one, would like to send the guy a card, and others might like to do likewise.

Thanks to anyone who can help with this.

Tha Wookie
01-23-2005, 17:04
Good idea, Jack. Pm it to me if you get it please.

Lugnut
01-23-2005, 18:34
This article answers a lot of the un-called for critisism thrown this guys way a while back. If I were him I'd get some new friends for the next hike.

wacocelt
01-23-2005, 18:52
I'de like to send him a card as well.

orangebug
01-23-2005, 19:01
Lugnut, is there any way to get that article copied to the list - or at least an URL for it? Some of us could learn from it.

At least one of us should learn from it, but that would be hoping for too much.

Youngblood
01-23-2005, 19:24
This article answers a lot of the un-called for critisism thrown this guys way a while back. If I were him I'd get some new friends for the next hike.
Yeah, I thought the same thing. You should really let someone know when plans change, especially when the other person is solo... cell phones are sometimes good for that when things change at the last minute.

I watched a few minutes the other night a TV program that had a former 'guide' on Everest climbs that lost part of one (or maybe both?) his feet because he had to stay out overnight with a client on Everest. Now he has a difficult time walking, hiking, etc... but he is an excellent bicyclist. I believe on the program he was one of many competive cyclist riding across the USA.

Youngblood

SGT Rock
01-23-2005, 19:30
He had a cell phone, didn't do him any good.

Youngblood
01-23-2005, 19:37
He had a cell phone, didn't do him any good.If my understanding of what happened is correct, I don't think you're not totally right on that. If his partners had left him a message telling him they had cancelled, maybe he wouldn't have thought they would come looking for him when he fell and he would have used his cell phone to call for help sooner or realized that he needed to get moving and try to hike out on his own before he got in worse condition.

Big Oak
01-23-2005, 19:48
Coulda Shoulda Woulda, it don't matter. The guy only lost part of his foot, get him a special boot made and put him back on the trail.

wacocelt
01-23-2005, 19:50
At least one of us should learn from it, but that would be hoping for too much.

I'm tryin' OB, I'm tryin'!

Lugnut
01-24-2005, 14:45
[QUOTE=orangebug]Lugnut, is there any way to get that article copied to the list - or at least an URL for it?

QUOTE]
OB, the article I was refering to is the one in post # 1. I didn't go to the Newspaper to see if there was more. What Jaybird posted answered most of my wonderings.

Tha Wookie
01-24-2005, 19:24
http://data2.itc.nps.gov/morningreport/morningreportold.cfm?date=01%2F03%2F2005

He did have a cell phone, but he didn't call until three days later. Maybe he couldn't get a signal or something.

Proper planning and communication with his friends would have probably pre-rescued him.

but that's easy to say in hindsight.

While one might say a cell phone saved his life, he could also say it might have just as easily risked it.

Still looking for an address.

SGT Rock
01-24-2005, 19:28
I know a guy that might have that.

SGT Rock
01-24-2005, 19:47
The guy I know doesn't have his address, but I did find a David P. Dinwiddie in Knoxville where the guy is supposed to be from.

c.coyle
10-16-2005, 19:50
"Avid hiker David Paul Dinwiddie is one of the few hikers to have endured several nights alone in freezing temperatures on the Appalachian Trail and lived to tell about it." Badly injured hiker back on trails again (http://www.thedailytimes.com/sited/story/html/220144)

titanium_hiker
10-16-2005, 20:46
this the same guy in another thread where someone said that the rescue was un-necesary and the guy was going out to die, they should have let him?

dude- if it is, then this guy is pretty unlucky.

titanium

One Leg
10-16-2005, 23:27
''I don't know how much I will be able to hike after all of this,'' he said. ''But I will do as much as I possibly can. And I'm hoping for the best. I'm going to give it all I've got, just like I did to keep myself alive."

With the advancements made in the area of prosthetics and orthotics, he should be able to be back on the trail, resuming his regular routine pretty quickly. Not all adapt as well post-amputation, but he seems to be a real go-getter, and should really adapt well. I'd love to talk to him..

-Scott

CynJ
10-16-2005, 23:35
I agree with you One Leg about the missing toes/part of the foot - but him not being able to bend sorta sounds like his back was seriously injured. That can take a lot longer to heal (if ever) depending on what happened.

It sounds like his spirits are good though - and that's half the battle to any recovery at all!

saimyoji
10-16-2005, 23:45
Insensitive post. Sorry.

One Leg
10-16-2005, 23:54
I agree with you One Leg about the missing toes/part of the foot - but him not being able to bend sorta sounds like his back was seriously injured. That can take a lot longer to heal (if ever) depending on what happened.

It sounds like his spirits are good though - and that's half the battle to any recovery at all!

Stupid me, I didn't take note of the date of the original post in this thread. I thought it was a new thread. I'm glad that C.Coyle posted the link to the update story. Sounds like he's really been through the mill. I'd still love to talk to him anyway.

Rock, do you know if the Knoxville contact info is for the same guy? If so, would you fwd. me that info?

Sly
10-16-2005, 23:56
Dinwiddie, a veteran with extensive military survival training, had a sleeping bag but no tent because he intended to stay in shelters.

Mistake #1

Newb
10-17-2005, 08:50
All I can think of after reading this article are a few times where I've nearly slipped or lost my balance along steep switchbacks and steep climbs along the trail. At the North end of Shenandoah I was climbing (on the trail) through a rocky area and a stone gave way under my foot. I literally did the double windmill for a split second (seemed like an hour) and got my balance. If I had gone down I could have been hurt, if it had been freezing out I would have been a goner.

I make a constant, deliberate effort these days to take care of every step. I just have to remind myself that I'm not in a race.

Frolicking Dinosaurs
10-17-2005, 09:38
There was an article in our local paper (near the Smokies) in the past week that indicates this hiker is back to hiking.

hikernc
10-17-2005, 16:43
There was an article in our local paper (near the Smokies) in the past week that indicates this hiker is back to hiking.
Good for the hiker!