Teen falls from cliff: 'Once I hit the air, I was like, game over'
PORTLAND, Ore. - Christian Booth thought his life was over when he slipped and fell 200 feet from a cliff on the southwest Washington coast.
Booth, from Spanaway, Wash., and two friends were looking for adventure on the cliffs near Ilwaco at Lewis and Clark State Park.
“We looked over the edge and saw a cave and said that would be cool to go down to the cave,” Booth said Tuesday from his hospital bed at Legacy Emanuel Medical Center in Portland.
But while heading down to explore the cave, his foot slipped on the grass and he slid on his side and buttocks while struggling to grasp at anything to stop him from going over the edge.
“I was just really, really scared (and) trying to grab bits of grass,” Booth said. “Once I hit the air, I was like, ‘Game over.’”
Meantime, Booth's friend, Reggie McDuffy, noticed his friend's absence.
“I yelled out to him a few times and he didn’t reply," he said. "And then I really started to get shaky, and it was hard to think after that, just knowing something must have been really wrong with him."
While in the air, Booth had to make some quick decisions to control his own injuries.
“So it was more like, 'I’ll give up my arms and legs before I give up my head and face first,”' he said. “'I’ll put everything out in front of me and break as much as I can.”'
When Booth hit the rocks, he blacked out. Moments later, he woke up, confused.
“I thought it was all a dream, because I thought, 'This would never have happened to me in real life. This wouldn’t happen,'" he siad.
But he saw the blood and broken bones.
“I slowly remembered everything. And I was like, 'Wow, this is real now,”' said the teen.
Help eventually arrived. Coast Guard rescuers rappelled down the side of the cliff and brought in a helicopter.
Booth said rescuers greatly helped him on the rocks by praying with him and holding him as if they were his own parents.'
Booth sustained a broken knee cap, forearm and facial bones. He also lost several teeth that were knocked out of place.
The injured teen and his friends said they regret their adventure that took them off the trail.
“I just feel lucky to be alive, and have my friends and family with me all the time,” said Booth.
