Mom tracks down climber who helped save son's life at Elora Gorge
'We feel so blessed and fortunate to have him come into our lives and save our family,' said Beckett
Joanne Beckett has been wanting to thank the man who helped save her son's life after he fell at Elora Gorge and hit his head on June 30, and a week later finally tracked him down on social media.
She wrote a Facebook post in hopes to find the "guardian angel" who helped her son Zakaria, 10, to thank him.
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"I can never express how grateful our family is to him," she wrote. And the anonymous military medic who performed first aid at the scene has responded.
The accident
Beckett and her family were visiting family at Elora Gorge during the Canada Day long weekend.
She and her boyfriend were helping her youngest daughter down the last step of a concrete staircase when her son, who was a few feet in front of them, slipped and hit his head on some rocks.
She told CBC News she didn't see what Zak had hit his head on, just that he was crawling toward them.
"His eye was pooled with blood and I actually thought he lost his eye," she said.
"As I ran towards him, then I saw the gaping wound on his head. I heard him scream, 'Mom, my head!'"
She stayed calmed and helped him up the stairs.
A nearby man called an ambulance while Beckett's boyfriend was comforting her daughter.
Once Beckett and Zak were up the stairs, a woman wearing rappelling gear said she had heard the scream and had called a member of their team, who was a military medic.
Moments later, the medic quickly assessed Zak and pulled a head bandage out of his first aid kit.
"Zak had his back on the medic's chest," she said as they waited for the ambulance. "He just talked very soothingly to him."
Zak was taken to Groves Memorial Hospital in Fergus.
Guardian angel reaches out
While waiting for the ambulance on June 30, Beckett said she didn't have the chance to talk to the medic and so wrote a Facebook post in hope of finding him.
"I hadn't thought of social media, but a friend of mine mentioned it," she said.
She was overwhelmed with the number of responses she received. Finally, someone posted a possible email address.
Beckett looked up the name on the email on Facebook, but found that there was no profile picture for her to reference. The only hint she found on the profile was that it said "Canadian Armed Forces."
A few days after Beckett sent the email, a reply came.
The responder confirmed he was the person who had helped her son. The medic had asked to stay anonymous because he wanted it to be a tribute to medics everywhere, Beckett said.
He continued by writing a very touching response about how Zak had many guardian angels the day of his injury, she said.
"We just feel blessed and so fortunate to have had him come into our lives and save our family," said Beckett.