She had a point. Ben shook his head, hardly daring to say another word.
Sensing she was gaining ground, Thea pushed her point home. ‘We’re the eyes and ears for the local trauma unit. The more information we can gather and pass on, the more pinpointed their subsequent care can be.’
His glower raked over her. He looked exhausted and scared.
‘You’ve got some nerve...’ His voice shook but he said nothing more.
He turned back to the skier.
‘Tomas, our priority right now is to get you comfortable while we assess your injuries.’
Tomas fought to draw a deep breath. ‘I was sliding, and then I remember a hot, searing pain travelling from my head to my toes.’
‘Yeah,’ Ben confirmed. ‘You hit a tree—good job you were wearing a helmet. So, have you got your patrol two-way radio?’
‘Should be in my pocket... If you call in, they can send another patroller with a toboggan. Then they can take me to a landing zone a bit further down, where a chopper can land to medevac me.’
Ben checked Tomas’s pockets, then looked at Thea. The radio had been lost in the slide.
‘Tomas did have a toboggan though,’ Thea murmured quietly.
‘Understood.’ Ben nodded. ‘Okay, Tomas, I’m just going to pinch your thigh—you tell me if you can feel it.’
‘No...’ He closed his eyes for a moment. ‘But I think I can move my hands.’
Ben watched carefully as only two fingers on one of Tomas’s hands twitched. Thea cast him a sinking look, they needed to stabilise Tomas fast and go for help.
Thea kept her voice deliberately neutral, clearly not wanting to lie to the man but needing to offer some reassurance. ‘There is some visible movement—try not to worry. I’m just going to prep you for when they arrive with the full transport.’
She had barely finished speaking when Tomas went into cardiac arrest.
Uttering low curses, they started chest compressions, relieved when Tomas came back relatively quickly.
‘Wait, there’s his rucksack,’ Thea spied suddenly. She waded through the snow and retrieved a small pouch, opening it... ‘Space blanket, water camel, emergency medical kit—that’s something.’
Before Ben could answer Tomas went into cardiac arrest again, and with barely a glance between them they resumed their places to work together. It took longer this time, and the look Thea cast him confirmed Ben’s apprehension.
They made Tomas comfortable before carefully retreating a small distance.
‘He won’t cope with continually going into cardiac arrest,’ Ben murmured. ‘I’m pretty sure it’s the paralysis which is causing the problem. I think it’s causing his diaphragm to stop rising and falling and that’s what’s knocking his heart out.’
‘That makes sense.’ Thea nodded. ‘But there’s nothing here to help him breathe in the interim, is there?’
Ben paused. ‘Maybe...’
She followed his eyes to the water camel.
‘It’s not ideally sterile, but the long tube could be put into cold snow to harden it slightly.’
Thea grunted, not keen. ‘Might be hard to intubate without a sedative but he will need to be stable enough for me to go for help.’
‘Then there’s nothing else for it,’ Ben confirmed. ‘If Tomas goes into cardiac arrest a third time we’ll use the opportunity to intubate before starting compressions.’
‘And then?’
‘If we can’t get Mountain Rescue to Tomas, we’ll just have to get Tomas to them,’ Ben ground out.
‘How?’