Communication Is Key!!

My name is Jennifer Edwards. On Saturday, September 17th I was involved in a terrible accident in Agness, OR while hiking the Illinois River Trail. I slid on some shale and fell approximately 60 ft into a creek bed below. I suffered a head trauma and broken neck along with other non-life threatening injuries. Fortunately I had a Delorme Inreach satellite communicator with me and was able to send my exact location and text with fiancé to provide up to date information on my injuries. Not only did this device save my life, but provided me comfort to speak with those that I love and get updates on where my rescue efforts were at. The volunteers with Josephine and Curry county search and rescue (SAR) sent out assistance that night. When Ryan arrived after driving on an electric bike in the dark on a rugged and wild trail for over an hour and a half did I realize that he didn't have the level of communication that I had in this small 3x2 device. They did have line of sight communication, so once the coast guard chopper was above us there was some feedback, but because of the variety of canyons, communication outside of his was scarce and the SAR teams relied heavily on my fiancé and I's texting thru the inreach. I laid out in that creek for 21 hours before I was able to safely moved and air lifted to a near by hospital. I would not have faired as well or as comfortable if it were not for Ryan getting to me in those late hours. Also the countless others (in excess of 8 people) who were coordinating, hiking and waiting on pins and needles to hear that I was in the chopper and headed to the hospital. They risked their safety for mine and had something tragic happened in that effort, no one would know their location because of the equipment they currently have. I owe everything to them and my goal is to be able to raise enough to buy several of the inreach devices as well as a year worth of service for them. I wish that I could do on my own, but I am hoping with some help from the public we can provide them with the best thank you I can think of to help with future rescues.