Timpanogos Terror

Madison's 5th grade field trip this year was a hike to Timpanogos Cave.  I had a conflict that day (and I cannot even remember what it was, oh yes, I was supposed to clean Jenni's house, but I was home with a pukey Tenley) so Norm said he would go with her.  Maddy was so excited for Dad to come with her.  I was very excited too, since I am so out of shape I probably would have died trying to hike it.  Anyways, Norm was all worried about getting back to the school late.  He had a work appointment at 3:30 -ish. I said, don't be ridiculous... school is out at 2:55 so they CAN'T get back later than that.  They were scheduled to be back at the end of the school day so I asked Norm to just check Maddy out and bring her home so I wouldn't have to go over to the school and leave Tenley.  I tried to call him to see how it was going at about 2:00.  He didn't answer.  I figured, he's on the bus, its SUPER loud and he can't hear his phone.  Then at about 2:40 I get a text... Go Pick up Maddy.  So, I hop in the car and head to the school.  I drive up, at 2:50 (school is out in 5 minutes) and no bus and Norm's car is still there.  I call him again and he proceeds to tell me of the terror of the day.  There was a horrible accident, a girl, named Shaylie, slipped of the trail and fell about 100 feet straight down.  Norm's group was behind her group but he passed someone using the emergency phone and asked what was wrong.  They told him a girl fell and he took off running down the trail to see what had happened.  When he reached the area where she had gone off people were looking over but you couldn't see her.  He then ran down a couple of zigzags to get on the same level with her and hiked across the mountain to get to her.  It was straight down cliffs where she went off so he couldn't go down that way.  As he was hiking towards her, he had no idea what he was going to find, what kind of shape she was in.  He saw her off in the distance and she looked unconscious.  As he approached closer he saw her moving and starting to try to get up.  He yelled at her to stay down and quickly got to her.  To his utter amazement, she was not in that bad of shape.  She didn't have any obvious broken bones or any serious bleeding.  Her face and mouth were a little bloody and she was moaning.  He just stayed with her and tried to talk to her while waiting for someone who knew what to do could get to her.  The Park Rangers came first and then the EMTs from Alpine came and worked on her for a little while.  They decided to call Life Flight to get her out after that far of a fall to make sure there weren't internal injuries.  Search and Rescue performed the evacuation since the terrain was so treacherous.  They had to use ropes from above to hold the gurney flat while they tried to carry her out without moving her too much.  Norm stayed with her and helped until they got her out to the helicopter.  The buses left shortly after that and Norm ended up riding back with another parent and her teacher Mrs. Laver.  The 5th grade teachers were all so grateful that Norm was there and able to get to her first.  They appreciated that they didn't have to hike over to her and that he was so much help.  Norm acted like it was no big deal, anyone would have done it.  I know people react differently in emergency situations, the adrenalin gets going and you do things you never thought you could.  I don't know if I would have had the insight to walk down the trail to get level with her and then climb over.  I don't know if I would have been brave enough to hike over on that steep mountain.  I believe that he was there for a reason, that he was there to help that girl.  He was my hero that day, and many others have offered him hero status... he respectfully declines and says "It's no big deal"   I disagree.... may we all try to be heroes to someone sometime.