LA VERKIN, Utah — Karen Conner can’t explain why she is still alive, let alone able to to walk, a little over a year after she fell off a cliff headfirst.
“I honestly don’t know why it wasn't that day, and I don't know why I didn't end up paralyzed,” Conner said.
About a year ago, the woman from Wyoming was walking along a trail in La Verkin and found herself going off a cliff more than 40 feet. She lived to tell the tale, and on Thursday, she returned to southern Utah to thank those who helped her in her long recovery
Conner, 57, from the central Wyoming town of Lander, took an eight-hour drive to St. George Regional Hospital to personally thank the doctors, nurses and LifeFlight crew that saved her life.
Conner says she’s 90 percent now. That’s a far cry from April 21, 2023, when she, her husband and three dogs were taking a leisurely walk along a cliffside when she smelled something rotten, and wondered if she had come upon a body.
"All I could think was, for some reason, what if it was somebody's loved one down there? We should at least take a look,' so that's what I was doing and not paying attention,” Conner said. “I apparently tripped and immediately went down on all fours, went on my stomach, and just slid right off the cliff."
Only a small rock and a bush kept her from plummeting further to the Virgin River below. Her spine and neck were broken in about eight places, and she was airlifted to the St. George hospital. She remembers little of that flight — but her husband Clint does remember.
"You know, the first 12 hours were pretty stressful,” Clint Conner said. “I just wanted to make sure we were getting her to good care."
After weeks at hospitals in St. George and Wyoming and months of physical therapy, Karen Conner was back to personally thank her caregivers. Doctors and nurses said they don’t often see their trauma patients again after they’ve recovered.
“She looks amazing, doesn't she?” said Dr. John Sutherland, who worked with Conner in her initial treatment and recovery. “You know, we see the patients on the worst day of their life. So seeing someone coming back and living their life and getting back to the things they were doing before the injury… It's great. It's really rewarding for the whole team.”
Sutherland said Conner’s luck can’t be overstated, as a slightly different fall would have left her a quadriplegic. But Sutherland is also quick to credit Conner herself on her recovery.
Conner, a critical care nurse herself, is quick to say that like doctors, nurses aren’t the best patients. But she says she’s going to be a better nurse now.
“I think I have more empathy for just people in general, but in particular patients of what they're going through,” Conner said. “I've always tried to treat my patients like they were my family because they're everybody's family. They took care of me for my family when my family couldn't do it.”
And what was that bad smell Karen was looking for?
“It was a cow who apparently took a similar trajectory that I did and was less successful,” Conner said. “I guess he didn't bounce as well as I did.”
The trauma crew at St. George Regional told FOX 13 News that they see more critical injuries from hikers, bikers and others falling at southern Utah’s natural wonders than car accidents.
Conner said her key piece of advice for those on an outdoor journey is to make sure you have someone with you.
“The biggest thing is: Go with somebody else. Because if I had not had my husband with me, I probably would have been hanging out with the cow for I don't know how long," she said.
