Doctor on call: UK newspaper highlights Maltese doctor's rescue on Mt Everest
"I'm so glad Greg was there," Cool said. "I've injected oranges in practice but never injected somebody for real in the dark at -20C, 8,250m above sea level in the snow. It bloody well worked and got her on her feet."
Greg Attard in the mountains.
A British newspaper described today how a Maltese doctor last week went to the aid of the youngest British woman to climb Mount Everest when she fell as she descended from the world's highest peak.
Bonita Norris reached the summit on Monday but, the Observer reported, she could have died but for the efforts of the Sherpas, support team, and Maltese Dr Gregory Attard, who himself had just been to the summit with the Challenge 8000 team.
Having achieved a near-textbook ascent and in high spirits, Norris slipped while coming down the mountain, sustaining whiplash.
Unable to move, her legs quickly became frozen and she could not feel her toes – the first signs of frostbite. After several hours her Sherpa informed her support team via a radio link that her condition had become a major cause for concern and he feared she would be unable to come down from the mountain on her own. Extra Sherpas were sent up the mountain with oxygen, medical equipment, food and hot drinks as the support team farther down waited for further information.
Kenton Cool, a 36-year-old professional mountaineer who had helped Norris to the top, and Greg Attard followed, despite the pair of them having descended from the summit only hours before. Around midnight – 12 hours after Norris's ascent – they found her.
Cool said: "It was a shocking situation. She was lucid but semi-conscious. She recognised me straight away; that was amazing given how long she had been at altitude. But my initial reaction when I saw the way the Sherpas were banging her legs and giving her hot water was, 'Oh my God, she has severe frostbite'."
He feared Norris might have some sort of respiratory problem caused by being at altitude for too long. "We sat her up, stripped her top off, cut a bit from her thermals," he said. "It was medicine on the edge."
Dr Attard injected 15mgs of the steroid dexamethasone into her arm.
"I'm so glad Greg was there," Cool said. "I've injected oranges in practice but never injected somebody for real in the dark at -20C, 8,250m above sea level in the snow. It bloody well worked and got her on her feet."
The Sherpas then lowered Norris down a line of rope attached to the mountain from a section at 8,500m known as "the balcony". In the process they lost radio contact with the support team for around five hours as they descended a stretch of Everest close to the Tibetan-Chinese border.
"They had bound her up, tied her legs together and lowered her down by her climbing harness because she was unable to walk," Cool said. "This is one of the most harrowing things I've experienced, but the one good thing was the emergency procedures worked really well. The Sherpas and support team were fantastic. It was a pretty precarious situation. One simple slip and they could have all been down the line. The Sherpas were laying everything on the line to get her back down."
Cool descended the mountain to fetch a sledge to drag her down. However, by the time he had returned, the injection had kicked in and Norris was able to move, albeit slowly and supported by Cool and the Sherpas.
When Cool was able to examine Norris's toes in a tent farther down the mountain, he was relieved. "She's got some mild frostbite on two of her toes but when I first saw her I thought she was going to lose all her toes," he said. Norris was said to be in good spirits and had managed to drink a beer with some of her rescuers since returning to base camp.
See also
http://www.timesofmalta.com/life/view/20090826/the-team/gregory-attard
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/may/23/bonita-norris-everest-mountaineering
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Pule' Carmel
May 25th 2010, 19:06
I cannot understand why sponsoring a good deed ( I nearly wrote dead) necessitates an agent locating and coaxing someone who is ready to exhaust and kill himself. I personally would never encourage a circus trapeze artist to fly through the air with the greatest of ease , for my entertainment or enjoyment, or sponsorship, without a safety net just in case he errs in his hold.
It would be totally unfair. Now in war time, a fighter pilot going to stop the enemy airborne attack on Malta, well that is nearer in being a hero than climbing mount everest for sposorship. Where is the saneful logic in all this? It is all emotional logic on which many people pocket a lot of easy money to the detriment of the climber who satisfy himself with the aura of gaining and owning popularity for a period of time!!! The heart does things which a brain fails to understand.
Marianna Galea Xuereb
May 25th 2010, 15:53
@Pule' Carmel
I fully agree. It has always struck me as totally perverse of so many of us humans to glorify and admire people who do foolhardy things such as attempt to climb Mount Everest, sail around the world solo etc.
Call me a boring, old fashioned Maltese “busbetka” if you like but I would prefer it if all so-called adventurers would devote their energies, spare cash and sponsors’ money to activities that will really benefit mankind than to waste away resources – and put their own life as well as that of rescuers at risk - just to acquire personal fame.
S. Calleja
May 25th 2010, 17:07
So, Marianna, what do you do for the benefit of mankind?
M Brincat
May 25th 2010, 17:35
I would never call our Maltese heroes foolhardy but instead i'd say they're brave, professional and very well prepared ... and that's why they were not only in a position to attain their challenge succesfully but also to help others! J'Alla everyone had their attitude!!
Re wasting money, it's very apparent you have no idea/experience of fund raising & sponsoring
Pule' Carmel
May 25th 2010, 18:48
A hero is also every ordinary parent who cares much for his own children directly, and every child who cares much for his parents when they get older.
To benefit mankind, do care for the majority of ordinary people who can only afford to live where ordinary people can afford to live.
Would someone please explain how climbing everest really helps other people? Why not doing it more directly. It was the first American President who once said," Whatever we do we do it for selfish reasons!" Now that is deeper than one cares to reflect about . There is a popular school of philosophy, as "I will help you but I must also gain out of it, even if it is popularity". Most politicians are like that, even if it means reaching popularity by causing an Emerates, long distance Jumbo jet full of people to wait, and to cause it to delay for such a long tome. I hope no one will say that delaying a long haul Emirate Plane was good for mankind, but it certainly made the news, and someone gained out of it, certainly not mankind.
Pule' Carmel
May 24th 2010, 19:11
A doctor is just as good in being a doctor when he helps a patient after an incident at sea level, rather than helping a patient at 27,000 feet altitude where both the patient and the doctor went up there, as a very risky adventure knowing that they could both kill themselves at such an altitude not meant for humans to go. So please let us not get carried away with our balance of logic and emotions!! The other week I finished a first aid course. I bet I would hit the limelight if I had to go to mount Everest and give CPR to a prominent mountain climber than to give it to some ordinary poor person who needed it in some remote village in Malta. We gain most not for what we actually do , but the situation and the timing that we do it in , counts so much more to the level of our successes. Due to such emotions a doctor is at a great advantave in reaching popularity much more than the person who keep the drains and cess pits running at a hospital or any populated city. Such is life.
christian tonna
May 24th 2010, 19:05
simply outstanding, showing what the definition"on call"really means.,may god bless you,and may your example be an inspiration to all the medical staff world wide..
Charles Dalmas
May 24th 2010, 08:48
You are not only a great sportsman,but you showed the world what it takes to be a good doctor.
You are the SPORTSMAN OF THE YEAR.
GOD BLESS YOU
J. Baldacchino
May 24th 2010, 07:58
For once 'Norris' was the one being rescued, rather than the other way around!! :p
Well done Greg!!
R. Schembri
May 24th 2010, 20:29
I agree with J. Baldacchino. well done greg... always knew you dynamic and a great medic.
R. Caruana
May 24th 2010, 07:04
This is the stuff of heroes. My goodness, all Malta is proud of you Greg. Let's hope this courageous feat is well and truly recognised.
SPITERI VICTOR
May 24th 2010, 06:59
YOU SHOULD BE PROUD TO BE A MALTESE DOCTOR. MAY GOD BLESS YOU FOR YOUR DEED YOU MAKE . PROSIT.
Wenzu Vella
May 23rd 2010, 22:56
Good that this episode ended well for all concerned, but it makes you wonder, what would the climbers do without the SHERPAS, and yet the climbers get all the accolades for their heroism. Again well done to all........
Paul Bilocca
May 23rd 2010, 22:32
What else do you have to do, Greg & Co, for the Maltese media to at least notice you and your greatest achievement ever in Maltese sporting history? Don`tr worry, the rest of us Maltese are surely proud of you and will certainly keep narrating your great success. By the way, the Malta Sportswriters Association should look no more fore this year`s Sportsmen of the Year. Here they are: Gregory Attard & Co.
robert micallef
May 25th 2010, 16:43
to get noticed they have to play football and lose, next day all the media will be saying how good they played.
J Grech
May 23rd 2010, 18:51
God has given you a gift for you have saved the life of a young.
evelyn vella brincat
May 23rd 2010, 18:28
Dr Greg Attard, you make us proud....... PROSIT!
david debattista
May 23rd 2010, 21:03
My Boy .................. YOU ARE THE MAN! Take care.