Non-Witness Narrative by ccw on 2006-06-27 (okay to publish): TEXT ATTACHMENTS Posted: Post subject: From 9news.com Sun Jun 25, 2006 7:41 am ARIMER COUNTY – The Larimer County Sheriff’s Office says the woman’s kayak overturned on the Poudre River, along Highway 14, near Fort Collins. The name of the 48-year-old woman is not being released. Shyler King, a rookie rafting instructor helped save the woman. “Apparently she re-circulated too many times,” says King, “she got in a hole or something and it kept spinning her around and around.” Emergency workers say the woman was in the water for about two minutes and floated down the river, approximately four-tenths of a mile, before being pulled out by people in the area. King’s raft was passing by, he says he saw people on shore performing CPR, they asked for help. King and another rafter, a paramedic on vacation from Austin, Texas, tried to revive the woman. “She was pulseless,” says King, “she wasn’t breathing at all, her lips were blue, she was very pale. Luckily, we got some color back, I hope she’s okay.” The 48-year-old was flown to Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins, where she’s listed in critical condition Saturday. Investigators say her name will not be released until her family is notified. –Props to all involved. Sounds like a pretty heroic effort.. Hopfeully she recovers well. From Mountainbuzz I was trip leader of the raft trip that came upon the kayaker. It was below devils staircase in a relatively calm section. Talking to her friends she swam above what we call horseshoe hole, the rapid around the corner from ansel watrous, she apparently recirculated in horseshoe hole and came out of the hole face down. One of the kayakers with her swam out of his boat and carried her to shore. The kayakers thought she was underwater for 2-5 minutes. I was in the last raft, sweeping for the trip, and when I came around the corner shyler was giving cpr. He acted amazingly. It was only his second comercial trip ever, and he reacted calmly and quickly. He caught a small eddy and took over the resecitation. The kayakers with the lady weren’t experienced in cpr, and shyler is an emt-b. One of the customers on our trip was a paramedic, and he ended up staying with her in the ambulance until the helecopter got her. The kayakers had apparently been giving her cpr for 10-15 minutes before we got there, and we continued for another 20 before the ambulance came. All told she wasn’t breathing and was without a heartbeat for about 40 minutes, but she responded to the AED and her heart began beating again before the helecopter picked her up at hewletts. The canyon ambulance driver told us today that she is on a respirator in the hospitol with a heartbeat of her own, but unconscious still. I don’t know what the outcome will be, but it is important to remember that in cold water metabolism slows and there is still a chance. Don’t give up on the cpr. All of us on scene including the paramedic thought she was gone, but noone quit, and now she has a chance. Be careful and cautionus out there in all conditions. Remember stuff can happen anywhere even in a class III section like lower mish. My sympathies go out to anyone who knew her. I hope all the best for her and her family. Daily Coloradoan, Fort Collins, CO Kayaker remains critical after plunge into Poudre By CARI MERRILL CariMerrill@coloradoan.com A kayaker pulled from the Poudre River following a kayaking accident Saturday remained in critical condition Sunday at Poudre Valley Hospital. Laurie Wirp, 48, of the Boulder area, did not have a pulse and was not breathing, said Bud Riggs, EMT intermediate with the Poudre Canyon Ambulance and one of the first on the scene. She was resuscitated at the scene and airlifted to PVH. According to a Larimer County Sheriff’s report, Wirp was kayaking with three friends when her kayak apparently got caught in a water hole; the kayak flipped, plunging Wirp into the water.After being under water for an estimated two minutes, friends freed Wirt from the kayak, Riggs said. Wirt surfaced and then floated a ways down the river, said Don Nadow, Larimer County Sheriff’s Office spokesman.”When she surfaced, she wasn’t struggling,” Nadow said. “They don’t know if she was unconscious or dazed.” A group of rafters with A-1 Wildwater, a Fort Collins rafting company, pulled Wirt out of the water, put her on a raft and took her to the riverbank where they began cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Riggs said Wirt was gray from a lack of oxygen and cold from the water but did not have any other visible injuries. Medical personnel arrived, continued CPR and administered cardiac drugs, Riggs said.”Right before we put her on the helicopter to airlift her to PVH, we got a spontaneous heartbeat back,” Riggs said. The water rapids near the site of the accident didn’t seem to be extremely rough, Riggs said.”The rapids are probably a Class II, Class III at the most,” he said. Water rapids are categorized into six classes with a Class I being easy to a Class VI, with warnings for professionals and experts only.A Class II rapid is “straightforward rapids with wide, clear channels,” according to River Runners’ Web site. The company, based in Buena Vista, coordinates rafting trips. Kayaker dies after accident A kayaker pulled from the Poudre River Saturday afternoon was declared brain dead Monday, according to a nursing supervisor at Poudre Valley Hospital. Laurie Wirt, 48, of the Boulder area was underwater for at least two minutes, rescuers said. When she was pulled from the water she had no pulse and was not breathing, according to Bud Riggs, EMT intermediate with the Poudre Canyon Ambulance and one of the first on the scene.