OREM — At first, Utah Highway Patrol helicopter pilot Terry Mercer thought the young man covered in red sand standing in front of him and asking for a ride to the hospital was just fine.
That was before he realized the red sand wasn't sand at all, but blood from Aron Ralston's self-amputation.
"When I first saw he was bloody, I was considering getting out a blanket to protect the seats (in the helicopter). "His shorts, shoes, and socks were covered in blood and his camelback (pack) was dripping blood," Mercer said. "I quickly realized a bloody seat was inconsequential."
Aron had managed to stay alive for six days without food and water and was eventually forced to break two bones in his arm so he could saw off his trapped right hand. He had also lost a liter and a half of blood.
Aron walked six miles after freeing himself and rappelled 65 feet to get to the spot where the helicopter pilot found him. He was exhausted.
"Without that helicopter, Aron would not be with us today," Ralston's father said at Utah Valley State College Thursday, where Aron Ralston spoke and was reunited with those who helped him get to the hospital.
Aron Ralston was still a mile away from where he was headed when found, and his father said that last mile might have been insurmountable, given Aron's physical condition.
Ralston said the harrowing experience reshaped the way he looks at his life, his friends and his family. It also changed the way he regards pain.
"I'm now pushing the button for the nurse when the pain is at what I consider level 3 pain," Ralston said. "The nurses ask me how I can consider that level 3 pain. I tell them I've experienced level 10."
Ralston said that by the time he decided to break his own bones and cut through the flesh and twisted tendons to free himself, the physical pain was irrelevant. The euphoria that came with realizing he was going to live carried him above the pain.
"I'm not superhuman. I'm average," he said. "I cry when I pull a Band-Aid off my leg."
But Ralston knew he couldn't survive pinned to the spot where an 800-pound boulder held him. So what seemed like a crazy idea early on suddenly took on more appeal.
He said he knew his hand was gone and was decomposing while he waited for someone to find him. He bound himself in rope and webbing to keep warm and entertained himself with delusions.
He said he tried not to despair but sometimes became woefully discouraged.
When the inspiration came as to what exactly to do, he exulted.
"Within three minutes, I snapped the bones. I thrust the knife into my skin and started sawing. About an hour later, I was free. I almost fell over. I was reborn," he said.
"Twenty-seven years ago, I was born to my mother in an event I don't remember. Six months ago, I was born again."
Ralston said he's been back to Little John's Canyon and scattered the ashes of his cremated hand on what he now considers holy ground. He's moving in directions he'd never dreamed of.
His story will be part of a television documentary narrated by Tom Brokaw. It will also be published in a book tentatively titled "Between a Rock and a Hard Place."
His tale will be on the Discovery Channel.
He's very aware of the responsibility that comes with his unexpected fame.
"I have the confidence that I know I can do the impossible."
E-MAIL: haddoc@desnews.com