Darrel Comeau was on a four day trip to climb a remote mountain in Wilmore Forest. On the second night of their trip, the group was unable to make it to their cabin but was prepared to make an emergency shelter and set up camp for the night.Around 4am, Darrel’s dog Kitty, punched him in the face and started whining. Darrel woke up and rolled over to hush him. That’s when he realized he wasn’t breathing. Darrel’s airway was completely blocked. His experience working with Grande Prairie Technical Search and Rescue, prepared him for this, and he stuffed his finger in his throat to clear whatever was blocking his airway. Turns out it was his Uvula, with a large infected mass that was falling into his airway. He continued to struggle to breath. He couldn’t talk, he couldn’t scream for help. So with his vision blurred from the chocking tears, Darrel reached for SPOT X clipped to his bag and pressed SOS
His emergency contact Troy happened to have access to a helicopter and after he got the notification of the emergency he was ready to take action. However, Darrel began to improve, and was able to use the 2-way messaging on SPOT X to communicate with Search and Rescue and let them know that he was improving and didn’t need his friend to jump into action immediately.
Darrel continued to use his SPOT X to send messages to a friend in the medical field that walked him through what to do to improve his health and allow him to hike back and get to a hospital.
“The SPOT X is worth every penny. After pressing the SOS button, it brought me comfort knowing someone was working to help me and allowed me to stay calm and focus on my breathing. That SPOT X is never leaving my bag or vehicle,” said Darrel.