Washington woman reunites with man who saved her

Ursula Bannister was hiking up to High Rock Lookout near Ashford, Washington to leave flowers at the site where she scattered her mother’s ashes 23 years ago.

“Every Mom is special, right,” Bannister told KIRO 7 TV. “I try and go see her once a year and that was the reason for my excursion up there.”

But, this year, something awful and potentially tragic, happened during the 79-year-old’s annual visit to the mountain top. This year she made the 3.2 mile journey by herself on a hot August day for the first time in a long time. An experienced hiker, she thought she’d be fine.

“I was just trying to cut back over to the trail,” Bannister explained. “I just all of the sudden stepped into a hole and I fell over and heard it click and I went ‘ohhhh’. It didn’t take very long for the pain to come on.”

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Bannister broke her leg in three places – her tibia, fibula and heel bone. Her foot pointed the wrong way. She immediately cried out for help.

Just a few moments later, an off-duty airman from Joint-Base Lewis McChord (JBLM) heard her calls, walked over to the elderly Bannister and quickly came up with a plan to help. Airman 1st Class Troy May from the 62nd Aircraft Maintenance Squadron and his friend, Layton Allen, would carry her down the mountain.

“We picked her up right away and started carrying her down,” explained May. “I asked for gentleman’s backpack, and we were able to put her feet through the backpack straps because the back pack was strapped on in front of me.”

The way down would take three hours, but along the way May, Bannister, and May’s fiancé and friend visiting from New Mexico an into several others who selfishly jumped in to help. There was the man who gave up his backpack, but shortly into the descent, May’s boots started giving him blisters. Another man on the trail gave May his shoes.

Then, a physical therapist bandaged Bannister’s leg and built a makeshift splint out of scraps of wood. She also did breathing exercises with the 79-year-old to help deal with the intense pain. Nobody on the trail had aspirin or pain killers.

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About halfway down, Allen took over for May, putting Bannister on his back for the rest of the trip.

During the accident turned rescue mission, the group shared stories to pass the time and distract the patient. Bannister, according to the Washington Post, described her childhood in Germany and what it was like to move to the United States in 1959 when she was 14.

Once they reached the parking lot Allen drove Bannister to Tacoma General Hospital while May followed them in his car. They stayed with the 79-year-old until her son arrived.

Bannister eventually underwent surgery and 11 screws, and a titanium plate hold her bones together. During her recovery, her rescuers have checked in with her several times to see how she’s doing, including May.

“I’d say for breaking three bones and being piggybacked for three hours you didn’t scream too like I would have been,” May told KIRO 7 TV.

May received an Air Force Achievement Medal on September 9 for helping rescue Bannister.

As for Bannister, she told KIRO 7 TV she might rethink how to honor her mother next year.

“Maybe I will walk the waterfront in Tacoma and throw some flower petals there,” said Bannister, “And I’ll pretend I’m on High Rock.”

Luke Duecy is a reporter for KIRO Newsradio.