Heroic bystander saves man who fell 120 feet in Glacier National Park

A 60-year-old tourist was rescued from Upper McDonald Creek in Glacier National Park last week after falling about 120 feet from an overlook at McDonald Falls during a family visit. He suffered multiple injuries, including cracked ribs, a compound elbow fracture and fluid in his lungs. 

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Ken Nurse and his family were at an overlook taking pictures, his wife told NonStop Local Montana, when Nurse moved closer to the edge for a better view and the ground gave way. 

Glacier National Park dispatch received a report at 11:20 a.m. on Aug. 13 of a man who had fallen into the creek near McDonald Creek Bridge, spokesperson Autumn Sifuentes told SFGATE. 

A bystander spotted Nurse face down in the water and waded into the creek, pulling him into a shallow area and performing CPR for several minutes until he began breathing again. Rangers then reached Nurse and helped stabilize him as additional emergency crews, including Two Bear Air Rescue, were called in for an air evacuation. 

Rob Cherot, assistant chief pilot for Two Bear Air Rescue, was flying the rescue helicopter that day. A call had come in about someone in the river receiving CPR, and during the approximately 30-minute flight toward Glacier, the crew received an update that Nurse was breathing again and had vital signs.

An ALERT medical helicopter was also dispatched and attempted to land near McDonald Creek, but the terrain did not provide a suitable landing spot. The helicopter instead flew to the shore of Lake McDonald while Two Bear Air Rescue was called in to perform a hoist. 

When Cherot’s crew arrived, Nurse was still in the creek with rescuers beside him. From above, Cherot said, the area appeared hazardous.

“It looked really slippery because the rocky area was in the water,” Cherot said. The crew lowered their rescuer onto the bank and she waded through the creek with an extraction vest. Two Bear Air then circled back, lowered its hoist cable and lifted both the rescuer and patient from the creek.

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Cherot said Nurse was “responsive but unaware of the event and where he was,” and appeared badly hurt. Once the crew had him aboard, Cherot saw extensive bruising and bleeding, along with what he described as a severe fracture.

The helicopter carried him about a quarter-mile before landing beside the waiting ALERT aircraft on the shore of Lake McDonald. Nurse was transferred to ALERT and flown to Logan Health Medical Center in Kalispell for treatment. He spent two days on a ventilator and later regained consciousness and was receiving oxygen. He is recovering from multiple cracked ribs, a compound elbow fracture that required surgery and fluid in his lungs, according to his wife. 

Cherot credits the bystander who first entered the water with making the rescue possible. “Our part with bringing a helicopter and hoisting somebody down to the water and all — that’s the kind of glamor, dramatic, cool-looking stuff,” he said. “But we did the easy part.”

“The guy that made the decision to jump in the water and save the guy,” Cherot added. “That’s the hero.”

“I just want everyone who helped me out to get the things they deserve. Because I should not be here right now,” Nurse told NoStop Local. “I owe everyone my life and I want that to be known.”