‘Papa’ died, wrapping his arms around his grandson as Jeep rolled down 150-foot cliff
In the last moments of his life, Jerry Greenough reached out for his grandson, hoping to shield Austyn Kerley from the impact as the Jeep tumbled down the side of a mountain near Black Mountain, New Mexico.
“We got stuck on a rock and, so, my papa tried to floor my jeep to get it over the rock, and the rock slid out and we just rolled down the hill,” Austyn told KFOR. “I remember his arms around me because I held on to his right sleeve all the way down until he let go of me and I lost grip and flew out.”
The family is from Edmond, Okla., and it was the first time Jerry’s grandsons were going with him on his annual camping trip to Red River, New Mexico, the station reported. Austyn and his twin brother called their grandfather “Papa.”
It was a 150-foot fall, Amanda Kerley, Austyn’s mom and Greenough’s daughter, wrote on Facebook. After sliding, the Jeep began to roll.
“As the Jeep tipped, my dad grabbed my son and cocooned him to protect him from the fall with him in his arms,” Amanda told ABC News.
Austyn, 13, and Greenough, 63, were both ejected, Amanda Kerley said, as Austyn’s twin brother lowered their dad down the cliff face using their Jeep’s winch. First responders weren’t able to save Greenough, but they took Austyn via Care-Flight to a pediatric ICU unit at a University Hospital in Albuquerque quickly enough to give him a fighting chance, she wrote on Facebook two days after the crash.
That was Sept. 2. Austyn was taken directly to surgery with internal bleeding; fractures in his neck, his back and both collar bones; broken ribs; a collapsed left lung; and severe lacerations covering his face, arms and legs, his mom said.
Austyn at one point had lost 40 percent of his body’s blood supply, and he survived respiratory failure during surgery, Amanda said.
He was in the pediatric ICU for five days, according to another of his mom’s Facebook posts. Doctors told his family he probably would be in the hospital through October, KFOR reported.
But less than three weeks after he was rushed in for emergency surgery, Austyn was up and walking again, taking assisted steps in the hospital as Amanda chronicled each step of his long road to recovery on Facebook. He was released from the hospital on Thursday and was back home in Oklahoma, on Friday.
“My son is a miracle,” Amanda told McClatchy. “And I have my daddy to thank. He saved him from what could have been much worse.”
This story was originally published September 26, 2018 at 8:35 AM with the headline "‘Papa’ died, wrapping his arms around his grandson as Jeep rolled down 150-foot cliff."