Avalanche survivor flooded with community support: ‘It’s what brings me to tears’
TRUCKEE, Calif. – A Truckee resident is focusing on the positives after an avalanche earlier this month left him facing a startling reality, unable to feel or move his legs in the moments directly following an incident in Tahoe’s backcountry.
“This could be life changing in like a really really big way,” Rylan Cordova had thought, contemplating modifications to his house, whether he could still do his job, how to live and whether he’d be forced to find new hobbies. “Like what trajectory is this going to take me?”
It was a question he continued to ponder while growing gradually colder, laying in the snow on the west shore of Lake Tahoe where the incident occurred on April 2.
“I got a little antsy,” Cordova said. “I just told myself I’m going to try and move my legs right now.”
And move his legs he did, after about five minutes of grappling with this jarring reality. It was a foreshadowing of the favorable turn of events that would come.
“I just think for me,” Cordova shared, “what’s really big, is how positive of an experience it’s been relative to how scary and negative the situation was.”
This is evidenced by Cordova returning home from the ICU just a week and a day after the accident, to the amazement of friends, family and even hospital staff.
The 45-year-old sustained fractures in his upper and middle spine, as well as a hematoma on his spinal cord. He describes the fractured vertebrae in his middle spine as crushed coke cans, which required surgery. A series of screws and rods fused multiple vertebrae to act as a brace and allow his spine to heal.
The injuries have left him with numbness, strength and dexterity loss in his hands and arms.
Although the specific details are hard to confirm, the bark in his cracked and dented blue Scott helmet lead Cordova to believe the avalanche swept him into a tree.
“I would be dead without that helmet,” Cordova said, who did not experience memory loss or a concussion after the incident.
‘Somebody else was looking after me’
Cordova had been skiing in the Tahoe backcountry with two friends when the avalanche occurred.
Cordova believes the situation would have been very different if it wasn’t for the quick thinking and action of his friends, Adam Ruscitto and Trevor Hall.
“I think I lucked out in a lot of ways,” he said, “in terms of having two people there and especially those two people.”
His friend, Trevor Hall, a firefighter and paramedic, immediately called for a helicopter at the first sign of a back injury.
“I wasn’t even dug out yet fully,” Cordova said, remembering the urgent call for the helicopter. “There was no thinking about it.”
The three were still in avalanche danger and the next task was moving to where it was safe, not an easy task when Cordova was showing signs of a back injury.
Hall and Ruscitto placed Cordova on one of their splitboards, keeping his neck as straight as possible to prevent further injury. The two used the board to move Cordova and themselves out of avalanche danger.
“I look back on that and it feels as close as when they were moving me around in the hospital, putting me on boards and going from CT scan to CT scan,” Cordova described. “It felt very similar, which is a good thing.”
Cordova was on the splitboard in the snow for around two and half hours as multiple agencies gathered resources and developed a plan to evacuate him.
“All I was focusing on when I was laying there was breathing,” he remembers. “All those years of yoga, paying off.”
Tahoe Nordic Search and Rescue responded on skis with support from El Dorado Search and Rescue. California Highway Patrol deployed their helicopter rescue team from Auburn, Calif., along with personnel from local fire agencies. The multi-agency team successfully hoisted Cordova from his location.
Before the hoist, Cordova remembers seeing a bald eagle fly over.
“I just felt like somebody else was looking after me.”
The helicopter flew him to a fire department in Tahoe City where an ambulance warmed him up. From there, a helicopter flew him to Renown Regional Medical Center in Reno, Nev., where he underwent treatment.
Road to recovery
Cordova will wear a cervical collar for up to three months to keep his neck straight and allow his upper vertebrae and hematoma to heal.
He is currently at his Truckee home adjusting to the constraints of his injuries, which prohibit him from bending, twisting, and lifting more than 10 pounds.
Occupational and physical therapy are his next steps to regaining the losses in his hands and arms. Another surgery could be in the future depending on what follow up appointments reveal.
Full recovery could take around six months.
“It’s my goal to go skiing again, definitely,” he said. “And to be at the level of skiing that I was at.”
‘I have all the support’
Although Cordova’s road to recovery might be long, he finds comfort in the support he’s received from the Tahoe-Truckee community and beyond.
“It’s what brings me to tears,” he expressed, explaining his phone has been active non-stop since the accident.
“I literally spend an hour or two a day on my phone responding to people texting me, saying that they want to help and that they’re thinking about me and sending me love and positive vibes.”
His drawing pads and books, meant to pass the time at the hospital, went untouched due to all the visitors he received.
“It’s nice to tell the doctors now that I have all the support and they don’t have to worry about me going to my house and not having somebody to help me.”
A part of that community is his team at Alibi Truckee, where he’s known as the grandmaster of good times (general manager). He says he has a strong team at Alibi who have stepped up during his unexpected absence.
A GoFundMe page was started and available to help with medical expenses. The page has not only reached the Tahoe region, but also his hometown in Littleton, Colo.
“The outpouring of support has been very overwhelming in a very positive way,” Cordova expressed. “I don’t know how to say thank you enough to people.”
