TOOELE COUNTY, Utah -- “Somebody is watching over me,” Trent Widdop says. “Very lucky to be alive.”
After at least six hours of being stranded at the bottom of an abandoned mineshaft in Tooele County, video captured the moments rescue crews helped 27-year-old Trent Widdop climb 80 feet up and out of the hole.
“Unreal," he said of that footage. "It feels like it's not me."
Trent inadvertently drove this UTV down the mineshaft last Sunday. He was camping with friends near Five Mile Pass and went to get firewood around 2 a.m. When he didn't come back, his friends went looking for him.
“The side-by-side was only 10-15 feet into the hole, they saw that and they didn't know where I was at first so they just started screaming at the top of the hole, and I was kind of coherent, I could hear them making noises and stuff like that, and I was just saying, 'I need help, I'm cold,'" Widdop said.
But Trent doesn't remember any of that. He doesn't remember driving into the mineshaft or being thrown from his seat and tumbling 80 feet to the bottom as his UTV dangled above him.
“Nope, nothing: I don't even remember going to the hospital,” he said.
But Trent’s mom remembers rushing to the hospital all too well
“To see him the way he is now: It's a miracle, it really is,” said Mila Widdop, Trent’s Mother.
For the first five days Trent wasn't responsive, suffering from a skull fracture and brain damage. Then he finally came to but didn't know why he was in the hospital bed.
“It was hard to tell, and telling him, and him not knowing or realizing that it was actually him,” Mila Widdop said.
Doctors say after a fall like that, it's incredible he was able to walk away.
“No broken bones, no spinal injuries” Mila said. “Very amazed he's as good off as he was and wasn't worse.”
As for the rescuers who risked their lives to save his.
“Thank you: I appreciate everything you guys did,” Trent Widdop said.
His mom is grateful for the countless miracles.
“There is, yep, a lot, and I’m glad he's here,” Mila Widdop said.
Trent does have to go through some therapy, but doctors expect him to make a full recovery. The family is now flooded with medical bills. A GoFundMe page has been set up to help them.
