338: Your Leg or Your Life: Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park

Summary

National Park After Dark

Episode 338: Your Leg or Your Life – Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park

Hosts: Danielle (A), Cassie (B)
Release Date: December 1, 2025

Episode Overview

In this gripping episode, Danielle and Cassie recount a harrowing and inspiring survival story from Australia’s Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park. Just a year prior, veteran Lithuanian rafter Valdas Belialuskas became trapped in an underwater crevice during a remote rafting expedition. The tale explores themes of human resilience, the limits of endurance, the expertise of rescue teams, and the power of teamwork—raising the ultimate question: What would you be willing to endure to survive?

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Major Topics & Discussion Points

1. Survival Stories & Human Limits (00:01–05:55)

• Danielle opens by reflecting on why survival stories like Aron Ralston’s grab our attention: “If I were in their shoes, could I have done that? What are my limits? What would I be willing to endure?” (00:34)
• The introduction frames the episode as an exploration of just how far someone will go to stay alive.

2. The Setting: Tasmania & the Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers NP (07:46–12:26)

• Danielle paints a vivid picture of Tasmania: “Temperate rainforests of sassafras and tree ferns, mountain ranges some 5,000 ft tall, rugged coasts…and the Franklin River…no roads, no buildings, and no dams.” (08:01)
• Brief history of the park’s creation and the fight against the proposed dam in the 1980s.
• The Franklin River is highlighted as a world-class, remote, and dangerous whitewater destination.

3. The Protagonist: Valdas Belialuskas (12:26–13:59)

• Introduced as a lifelong rafter and expert, “super cool under pressure and known to his friends as a fearless adventurer.” (11:41)
• Rafting trips served as celebrations of independence post-Soviet era.

4. Journey Down the Franklin River (13:59–16:55)

• Expert team facing challenging Class 2–6 rapids in multi-day self-supported trip.
• Description of unique watercraft (catarafts) and preparation for total self-reliance in the wilderness.

5. Disaster Strikes: Valdas Gets Trapped (22:29–26:25)

• The Fall: “Shortly after noon, they filmed Valdas stumble, lose his balance and fall into the water…he told them, ‘My left leg is stuck.’” (23:00)
• Friends attempt for 40+ minutes to free him, ultimately have to call for help via satellite phone due to the severity of his entrapment.

6. The Rescue: Race Against Time (26:25–33:00)

• Factors Working Against Valdas:
  • Cold (50°F) river water, risk of hypothermia, and possible rising water levels from rain.
  • Remote location—90 miles from nearest city, no cell service, and hazardous terrain.
• Rescue Efforts:
  • Multiple rescue attempts using ropes, slings, power tools, airbags, hydraulic spreaders, and even the idea of a jackhammer, all fail.
  • After 20 hours, option narrows: To save his life, they must break—or amputate—his leg.

7. Ethical Dilemmas & Human Endurance (33:00–45:50)

• Team’s Agony: “Many later said that they’d never needed to hurt someone in order to help them…amputate the leg or leave him to die.” (39:03)
• Valdas is remarkably calm and resolute, communicates his consent, and even in translation, is described as “one of the bravest, most determined people I have ever met.”
• A further complication: the lead doctor slips and breaks his own arm while prepping for the amputation (45:50).

8. The Field Amputation—Improvisation in Crisis (47:26–56:58)

• New doctor (Dr. Jorian Kippex), a trauma specialist and mountaineer, is flown in and rappels to Valdas’s location.
• Anesthetic selection is critical: administers ketamine, which allows for sedation without suppressing breathing.
• Makeshift tourniquet fashioned from ratchet straps after Velcro fails due to wetness.
• The amputation is performed underwater by feel, not by sight, using a gigli saw: “He made his first cut through the thigh…but as soon as he kind of hit the femur…the saw…snapped in half. He had to use his own hands to break off the rest of [the] leg, and was able to free Valdas.” (56:18)
• Procedure took under two minutes.

9. The Aftermath: Brink of Death and Resuscitation (59:51–63:21)

• Evacuation is urgent as Valdas’ hypothermia-induced cardiac arrest sets in; rescue team performs CPR and uses a portable heart-lung machine.
• Critical insight: extreme hypothermia slows bodily functions so much that “you’re not dead until you’re warm and dead.” (63:52)
• After over an hour of cardiac arrest and four days unconscious, Valdas miraculously begins to recover.

10. Recovery, Resilience, and Recognition (67:23–End)

• Valdas’s first words: “I’m a survivor.” (68:46)
• Discharged after weeks, goes from wheelchair to prosthetic leg, regains independence, and credits his survival to teamwork.
• Honors bestowed to Dr. Kippex (“Australian of the Year for Tasmania,” “Life Saving Cross” from Lithuanian president), but he credits the entire team.
• One year later, Valdas plans to return to the Franklin River: “A 2026 trip to get back on the water and conquer the river that took his leg. Fuck yeah.” (72:58)

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• Danielle (on why these stories resonate, 00:34):
  “If I were in their shoes, could I have done that? What are my limits? What would I be willing to endure?”

• On Valdas’s character (36:29):
  “Strong, quiet, and never one to complain…had a strong community of friends who referred to him as a legend. Even before this incident.”

• On the toughest emergency medicine choice (39:03):
  “Many later said that they'd never needed to hurt someone in order to help them…Amputate the leg or leave him to die.”

• Valdas’s resolve post-rescue (70:27):
  “I didn’t make a big deal about losing my leg. Just be thankful you’re alive.”

• Dr. Kippex’s humility (72:38):
  “It does feel a bit odd to be singled out. All I can think of in my heart is that I’m representing a whole bunch of people…[Valdas is] one of the bravest, most determined people I have ever met.”

• Valdas’s first words upon waking (68:46):
  “I’m a survivor.”

• Cassie (74:12):
  “To go through all of that and then plan your return back and to overcome it…to just be like, you know what? I’m a survivor. I’m gonna keep living my life and I’ll be back…is just incredible.”

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Important Timestamps

| Timestamp | Segment Description | |-----------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 00:01 | Introduction—why survival stories fascinate us; setup for the episode’s tone | | 07:46 | Introduction to Tasmania and Franklin River; history and environment | | 12:26 | Introduction of Valdas and his life of rafting adventure | | 22:29 | Valdas falls, gets trapped; first rescue efforts begin | | 26:25 | Description of rescue attempts; risks of hypothermia and rising water | | 33:00 | Shift to breaking his leg/amputation as last resort | | 39:03 | The moral and medical decision: save the leg or the life | | 45:50 | Lead doctor breaks his arm—complicating rescue further | | 47:26 | New doctor rappels in, prepares and performs field amputation using improvisation | | 56:49 | Procedure finished—a two-minute underwater amputation | | 59:51 | Post-rescue—hypothermia, cardiac arrest, miraculous resuscitation | | 63:52 | Explanation of “you’re not dead until you’re warm and dead”; reference to similar survival stories | | 68:46 | “I’m a survivor”—Valdas wakes and speaks | | 72:38 | Dr. Kippex and national/international recognition | | 72:58 | Valdas’s plan to return to the Franklin River |

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Tone, Reflections, and Human Insights

• The hosts infuse the retelling with a sense of awe, dark humor, and warmth—even as they delve into vivid medical and emotional details. Cassie’s amazement at the medical improvisation and rescue teamwork (“I’m so impressed by the medical team here”—51:00) and Danielle’s empathy for the psychological fallout (“There’s a lot that is missing from the story of just his recovery and the emotional turmoil that happens after that”—73:12) root the story in real human stakes.
• The conversation consistently returns to questions of courage, fate, and resilience—making the episode not only an account of survival, but also a meditation on the spirit of adventure, the skill and heart of first responders, and the love of wild places.

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Closing Thoughts

This multi-layered episode combines the pulse of high-stakes adventure with sobering medical drama and inspiring resilience. For listeners, it is a reminder of both the peril and the wonder of venturing into wilderness, the miracle of modern emergency medicine, and the power of indomitable human will.

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For more details and visuals, the hosts recommend watching the ABC documentary covering Valdas’s rescue and recovery.

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Podcast social links and bonus content info are mentioned at the end.

Transcript

[A]

People set off into nature for different reasons, searching for scenery or wildlife, a sunset, or an escape from cell service. Some find what they're looking for. Others find more than they had expected. If you look past the beautiful photos, there are stories of disaster. Someone in the wrong place at the wrong time who got stranded or stuck. You've likely heard the story of Aron Ralston after getting pinned by a rock during a climb in southern Utah. Stuck for 5 days all on his own, he cut off his own arm in order to survive. His story of survival became a nationwide hit. He wrote a book, which became a movie starring James Franco called 127 Hours. Stories like Aaron's grab us because how remarkable and unlikely they are. You're more likely to come across news of people who didn't survive situations like that. Over 200 people die in national parks every year, including people who got stuck, got lost, or fell, and never came home. So it's heartwarming to learn of a person who overcame incredible hardship, often at great expense, in order to survive. But there's always a layer of intrigue to these stories, too. A question that you can't help but ask yourself. If I were in their shoes, could I have done that? What are my limits? What would I be willing to endure? What could I endure to save my own life? Welcome to National Park After Dark.

[B]

We have a survival story today, which is my favorite.

[A]

I know tables have turned. Are you ready to hear a survival story and not share one?

[B]

Yes. I'm so in a survival story mood, too. So I'm just, like, very happy that you chose this.

[A]

Well, Merry Christmas. Early Christmas. It's December 1st. I am clearly in the festive mood. I legit feel as soon as I turn on my camera, I'm like. I look like I'm about to tell Cassie the story of the 25 days of Christmas. Like, I have a white turtleneck sweater on. I'm in front of a Christmas tree all lit up. I just need a little crackling fire. I have stockings hanging behind me. I don't know. This isn't a set. Like, this is just my office, and I have nowhere else to record or put my tree. So for the next however many episodes.

[B]

Well, it's really funny because I knew you were wearing a white sweater, and I know that you don't like to match, but I did something.

[A]

No, Cassie.

[B]

Hold on one second.

[A]

Okay. For background, while Cassie's revealing. Oh, no. Here I was trying to do something nice for you and share survival story, and you do me dirty like that.

[B]

It'S your fault for wearing that outfit earlier in a meeting.

[A]

Yeah. So just so background. So everybody is aware I had on the blue sweater that Cassie just had on all day today. And then for some reason, maybe five minutes before we had a scheduled meeting, I took it off and put this on. Call it divine intervention, call it a second sight. I just knew that I should change out of that. And when the camera came on and I saw Cass in the meeting, she was wearing that blue sweater. I'm like, I. I was just wearing that. And she was bummed. She's like, we could have been matching, which is her dream. And I was like, oh, well. Like, I'm not upset about it.

[B]

Sometimes you have to make your own dreams come true. And it was an opportunity I couldn't resist.

[A]

Darn it. Should I go change really quick?

[B]

Don't you dare.

[A]

I'm gonna go change into my blue sweater really quick.

[B]

Does it feel like you're looking in a mirror while you're telling the story now?

[A]

It's a bit distracting, especially because yours is so brilliant white. Like, mine's a little cream colored, like off white. I know.

[B]

It was the closest I could get.

[A]

And it also tracks that you have a brilliant sparkling white shirt and I have a oversized cream colored off white knit. But that's okay. It's fine. I'll get over it.

[B]

It's comfier than mine. I'm thriving.

[A]

I don't know if I can do this episode. It's okay. It's fine. Some people love to match. I just like the matching Christmas pictures and stuff.

[B]

That family pajamas.

[A]

I don't want to say. I don't want to on it because literally next week I'm going to my family's timeshare and Stowe and my sister texted me and she's like, mom wants to do a Christmas card. So, like, this is the. The marching orders for what to bring. I'm like, okay, sounds great. Can't wait.

[B]

I wanted to do matching PJs with Al and the dogs this year, but it's just not going to happen. So why? It's just like kind of getting too late to take the pictures and print them and send them. And I have so many beautiful photos from our wedding that I made a little Christmas card of our wedding photos that I'm going to send out instead.

[A]

Right? Yeah.

[B]

So I'm like, I already beautiful pictures. I'll just use those. And next year, matching pajamas with the dogs for sure.

[A]

All right, well, to be prepared, I won't Be involved. It's fine. I just. I just don't want to be a participant. But I will root anybody else on who wishes to do that.

[B]

I'm more for us to have our own matching PJ Christmas card to send out to listeners next year.

[A]

That's a huge undertaking. And you can start next week.

[B]

Okay, well, maybe just an Instagram post to say Merry Christmas where we're wearing matching pajamas with our dogs.

[A]

That's much more attainable, I think. Yeah, Yeah. I have Chaska's little. His little stocking. He has a little C stocking. What?

[B]

That'd be so cute. Are you agreeing to it?

[A]

I'm not sure. Agreeing to what?

[B]

Matching pajamas for a Christmas post.

[A]

Can we do just a similar. Like, in a similar vein? As far, like, I don't want to be copy paste matching, but I will be in the same genre.

[B]

Accepted.

[A]

Okay. And that's compromise.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Perfect. Okay, well, let me tell you a survival story that has nothing to do with Christmas whatsoever. Perfect. Great. And I've been really excited to tell this one. It's been a little bit on the back burner for a little while because I was waiting for it to come out of the news cycle because this is like, one of the most recent stories I've ever told. It's just about a year old, almost to the day. Almost to the day. Wow.

[B]

That is very recent.

[A]

Yeah. And I wanted to make sure that the people involved were okay before I decided to share it. Just because when it was unfolding, it seemed a bit touch and go for a while and I didn't want to touch it. But it's a happy ending because he's arrived. So this is great.

[B]

It's a survival story.

[A]

And we are going to Australia. Oh.

[B]

We haven't been there in a while for our stories.

[A]

Yeah. 150 miles off the southern coast of Australia is the island of Tasmania, known to Aboriginal Tasmanians as Luchuita. The island is about the size of the state of West Virginia, and it's home to a remarkable landscape. It has temperate rainforests of sassafras and tree ferns, mountain ranges some 5,000ft tall, rugged coasts along the Pacific, and near the heart of it all, the Franklin River. On its way to the ocean, the Franklin river drops 3,000ft in just 80 miles. Its clear waters carve through canyons of quartzite, and rapids crash over limestone boulders lined by forested hills and mountains. The rushing water gives life to animals like the wombat, the Tasmanian devil, the black currawong bird, the platypus and depending on who you ask, the thylacine. Oh. Which I don't know, maybe there's a chance they're still around, but I think I talked about that on my resurrection episode, but I'm not sure.

[B]

Yeah, you did.

[A]

Have you seen that movie? And again, maybe we talked about this in that episode, the movie that is all kind of about this man who is hired to go out into Tasmania to prove that the thylacine still exists, and he. He's to hunt it or something. Do you remember that?

[B]

I haven't seen the movie, but I.

[A]

Do remember you mentioning it has William Defoe in it. I think that's his name. I'm not sure. He plays the villain in almost every movie he's ever been cast in. But, yeah, it's a. It's an older movie, but it's all about. Yeah. Whether or not the thylacine is still around. I would like to think so, but probably not in a place the size of West Virginia. I feel like we'd know. We'd know. But this area, specifically, this national park that we'll get into, if you look at any sort of aerial footage of it or documentary footage of it, it is so rugged and wild and remote that who knows, maybe it is a beautiful place. But. In the 1980s, a hydroelectric dam was proposed that would have flooded the Franklin River. The emerging Australian environmental movement argued that it should be the site of a national park, not a dam. Citizens and activists staged peaceful protests and circulated pictures of the river that would be lost if the dam project was to go through. They engaged the media, lobbied for change within the Australian government, and over 1000 protesters were arrested before ultimately they succeed. The roughly 1700 square mile park was officially established in 1981. And condensing that whole movement down into a couple sentences is really tough to do because the movement was so large in scale and it was such a fight and there was so much going on with it. There is actually a documentary about it. It's called Franklin A Journey to the Past, A Quest for the Future. I'll link the trailer in the episode description if you want to take a peek at it, just to get you give an idea of how hard people fought for the protection of this area. And it's. It's really a fun watch, feel good type of thing. Of course, the dam was never built, and this area is now Franklin Gordon Wild Rivers national park. Along its 80 miles, you'll find no roads, no buildings, and no dams. A challenging and cherished journey into the rugged, wild heart of The Tasmanian wilderness. The Franklin has become a world class destination for whitewater rafting, which is how in 2024 it got the attention of Valdas Belialuskas.

[B]

What a name.

[A]

Yeah, Valdas is. I'm never gonna say Billia Luscas again after that time just now.

[B]

Well, you did great.

[A]

Thank you. It's probably not right, but I tried my best. Valdes had rafted his entire life. He grew up paddling rivers in his home of Lithuania, Siberia and throughout the former Soviet Union. With nearly 50 years of rafting experience, he is an expert whitewater paddler, super cool under pressure and known to his friends as a fearless adventurer. And Valdes and his friends went on expeditions all around the world. They made it a goal to float at least one river on every continent. And when they did so, when they reached their destination or along the way, they wanted to fly the Lithuanian flag. Since 2012, they've paddled rivers in Nepal, South America, the United States and Africa.

[B]

What a fun way to travel. Yeah, it's really making an adventure of it. But you're also really seeing the landscape that you're, that you're visiting.

[A]

Yeah, you're in it. And you're getting a firsthand experience that not many people do because you're being able to access such remote parts of the landscape in already remote areas of the world. So you're probably setting your ey on places that a handful of people maybe ever have, which is super cool.

[B]

And getting your little adrenaline fix in the meantime too.

[A]

Some who know him believe that Valdas love of traveling stems in at least some part from growing up during the Cold War. Lithuanians and other Soviet citizens were prohibited from traveling outside of the Soviet Union during that time. So these rafting expeditions were almost like celebrations of independence. And In November of 2024, that independence brought a now 65 year old Valdis to Tasmania. Along with 11 friends, Valdes drove the one road into Franklin Gordon Wild Rivers national park and began packing their rafts for a week long journey. And as I mentioned before, the Franklin is extremely remote. The shortest rafting trips are still multi day affairs and along the way you are completely on your own, facing difficult rapids with no cell service. At the parking lot where Valdes and his friends were setting up, they passed warning signs that you travel the river at your own risk. Like from here on out you're on your own.

[B]

There's no lifeguards, right?

[A]

Yeah, no ranger stations, no anything like that. But on the other hand, this group was extremely experienced. They knew the risks and Came prepared to face them. And if you've ever been whitewater rafting, when you hear the term raft, you might be picturing like a big inflatable boat with a flat bottom that everyone kind of sits in. And I mean, you and I have been rafting on a couple of our group trips, and they've all kind of been the same standard type of watercraft. But Valdis team was using cataracts, which are two long and skinny pontoons connected on top by a platform for whitewater. Cataracts are stable and highly maneuverable. And unlike other designs, they cannot take on water that you would need to bail out. So they're easier to twist and turn and navigate the turns in the river. They packed out all of their food and gear in dry bags, tied them down to their cataracts, and set out onto a tributary of the Franklin. The first day of the journey was pretty uneventful. One of Valdas friends, Arvidas, captured footage along the way with a GoPro. The weather was great, their progress was pretty quick, and the river was stunning. However, the weather soon turned to rain. Surrounded by mountains, that heavy rain was funneled straight into the Franklin, and as a result, the river rose by two and a half feet. To stay out of the increasingly hazardous conditions, the group decided to take the second day off. Just play it safe, wait out the water levels, hoping that they would drop back down to pre rain levels. And while their tents got pretty wet, their plan worked. The water went back down and they decided to set out the following day, which is technically day three. As with any whitewater rafting group, the most thrilling and most dangerous parts of the Franklin are its rapids. Rushing water, flowing fast over steep drops, crashing through narrow, boulder choked passageways. Loud and sometimes terrifying obstacles that rafters give names to, like the churn or side slip. But for experienced paddlers, even the greatest rapid is sort of like a puzzle to solve. The team learning how to maneuver themselves to stay upright and make it through intact rapids in the Franklin range. From Class 2, which are pretty easy, wide and clear of any debris, kind of on the gentler side, all the way up to Class 5 rapids with major obstacles, big waves and vertical drops that can easily flip any type of craft over. And it even has a couple of Class 6 rapids which are considered completely unnavigable. The only way to get past them is to take your boat physically out and either walk or kind of find another route around them, because there's just no way to paddle them yourselves. I think we've only done up to class three on our trips.

[B]

Yeah, we've done baby stuff on all of our rafting trips because safety, safety first. But they're fun. We've had some rapids and we've gotten.

[A]

Pretty wet and I've gotten a taste and I kind of love it. I really love it. For someone who doesn't totally enjoy water based activities all the time, I really enjoy rafting. At least what we've gotten so far. I could have kicked it up a notch a little bit if we weren't with our groups. But yeah, I don't know. I really enjoyed it like when the guy was like, do you. Who wants to ride the bull? Like, oh my God, me. Please me.

[B]

It is funny that you say that because I would say out of all of the stuff that we do, that one I noticed that you enjoyed the most.

[A]

I think it might be because for so long I'd just written off things in the water because for most of time I always consider, I just thought of like being in the water is boring and I'm pretty sure it's because I just imagine just like swimming around in a pool and I think that's extremely boring. But when it comes to snorkeling or doing rafting or just like doing some sort of activity other than just lounging around on a floaty, I'm down.

[B]

You just need a real activity. Something interesting.

[A]

Yeah, keep my mind busy. This episode is brought to you by IQ Bar, our exclusive snack and hydration sponsor. IQ Bar is the better for you. Plant protein based snack made with with brain boosting nutrients to fuel, nourish and satisfy hunger without the sugar crash. The ultimate Sampler pack is a great way to try all IQ Bar products and flavors. You get nine IQ Bars, eight IQ Mix Sticks and four IQ Joe Sticks. There are plenty of flavor combos to choose from across all of IQ Bar products. From mint chocolate chip protein bars to blueberry pomegranate hydration mixes and toasted hazelnut coffee. Even to limited additional season seasonal flavors that I'll talk to you about in a second. Plus, all IQ bar products are entirely free from gluten, dairy, soy GMOs and artificial sweeteners. My newest IQ shipment just came in and it's happening. It's here. It's Peppermint Mocha and Gingerbread time. I would say it's time in Mariah Carey voice, but we'd all be really upset about that. But yes, I am stocked up on My Gingerbread IQ Bars and Peppermint Mocha IQ Joe Coffee and I am so stoked. With over 20,000 5 star reviews and counting, more people than ever are fueling their busy lifestyles with IQ Bars, Brain and Body Boosting bars, hydration mixes and mushroom coffees. Their ultimate Sampler pack includes all three. And right now, IQ Bar is offering our special podcast listeners 20% off of all IQ Bar products, including the Sampler Pack, plus free shipping to get your 20% off. Text park to 64,000. Text park to 64,000. That's P A R K to 64,000. Message and data rates may apply. See Terms for details. Entering a part of the river known as the Great Ravine, Valdes and his group encountered the Coruscade Rapids, one of the longest rapids on the entire Franklin, and it's common for groups to portage around them during high waters after rain. This is a notoriously difficult part of the river. Valdis's group took out ahead of this set of rapids and started to scout ahead using a drone, not wanting to take any unnecessary risks. Just so smart.

[B]

Yeah, that's such a good idea.

[A]

Technology. Yeah. If they're a little advantage.

[B]

If they're allowed. Nationalists don't always allow them, but this is Australia, so I'm sure they have different regulations. Yeah, but that's such a good idea because then you can see everything.

[A]

Yeah. In a totally removed and safe way that just minimizes risk before you're even there.

[B]

You know, great video shots if you're someone who likes to put together a video of your travels after.

[A]

Yeah. So they pulled their boats up along some large boulders before the rapids and waited. Arvidas was feeling a bit under the weather and was taking some time to rest on the shore. And while he was doing that, he was just kind of filming the rest of the group. It's not the best part of the story, but an intriguing layer to this story in this episode is that everything from here on out is heavily documented. And now in a special that I'll link in the episode description, of course, but you can see all of this unfolding. So anything that I am about to give descriptions of, you can watch. Because there was so much documenting going on, everything was recorded.

[B]

That's so interesting. So is this. Is this a documentary that's made or just a video that they put out later?

[A]

It's a. It's a combination. So they took a lot of the original footage that they were capturing before, during and after this incident and wove it into a documentary that features interviews with certain people that came onto the scene after and people that were there that day and everything like that. And it became like a 2020 special, essentially. And it's a. It's an hour long, so you may watch that.

[B]

Yeah. This is, like, right up my alley. I love these kind of adventure stories. I think I'm also really drawn to the type of fantasy people.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

Who are in these stories. I think that might be why I love them so much, because I just think it's such an amazing way to, like, live your life and to explore and get out there. So when I hear survival stories, I think I'm invested in the people, maybe more so than others.

[A]

Yeah. I think that you're just. You can see yourself in a lot of these situations and seeing yourself being friends with people who find themselves in these situations. So it gives it a more personal connection. And I forgot to mention that when this is now unfolding, when they're at this part of the river, the great ravine, this is November 22nd of 2024.

[B]

Okay. And this is Australia. So that means it is going into summertime.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

So it's end of spring.

[A]

Yep. And for us and our purposes recording, it was two days ago, a year ago, I should say.

[B]

We do that a lot.

[A]

I know. I didn't intentionally do it this time, I promise. We don't ever.

[B]

We don't usually. Unless it's like, purposefully celebrating or speaking of an anniversary of an event. Usually this is by accident.

[A]

Yeah. Well, everything happens for a reason.

[B]

No coincidences.

[A]

Just kidding. I hate when people say everything happens for a reason. I take that back. Okay, so they're using the drone Arvidas. He's not feeling great. He's on the shore and he's capturing a lot of this footage and not of anything in particular. Like during this point in time, during the footage, you can see he's just kind of scanning the shore. You can see a bunch of people just figuring out how to take the boat out or the crafts out and just figuring out how to get past these rapids. And during this foot, this piece of the footage you can see, Valdis was walking on the boulders, hopping between them near the raft with a couple of other people. Shortly after noon, they filmed Valdis stumble, lose his balance and fall into the water. Everyone quickly rushed over to see if he was okay, fearing that he might be swept into the rapids. Of course, they're right near some big boy rapids there. And they saw him upright, pressed against a rock by some rushing water and submerged up to about his chest. As his friends rushed to ask if he was okay and tried to help him out because clearly he wasn't being swept away. But he still needed a hand. He told them, my left leg is stuck. Valdas had fallen into a small pool of fast moving water at the edge of the river. His life jacket helped keep his head above water where he fell. But as he rolled over, his legs somehow got wedged into a gap within the rocks and he couldn't pull it loose. His friends quickly secured him with safety ropes, in part to pull him out and also to secure him so that when they did pull him or wiggle him loose of that situation, he wouldn't get washed immediately downstream. Using the ropes, they spent the next 40 minutes trying to get him loose. Valdis all the while was in high spirits despite obvious discomfort. And he did everything he could to help them. As they pulled away from the rock. Left, right, they even pushed him down into the water to try and wrench his leg loose. And they started to use their paddles for leverage. I mean, they were trying everything to try and wriggle him out of this little situation, but nothing that they were trying was successful. With no other choice, they sent an emergency message out using their satellite phone. Our friend trapped his leg under the rocks and we need help. Almost 90 miles away in Tasmania's capital city of Hobart, the text arrived at the police station at roughly 3pm with the report of a rafter trapped in the Franklin River. Officials wasted no time assembling a team of paramedics who quickly piled into a helicopter and raced towards the coordinates provided. Like any skilled medical team, they knew that they had to act fast. For one thing, the Franklin river is cold at that time of year, around 50 degrees or less. Rafters like Valdez wear dry suits to protect them from the cold. But being submerged up to his chest, his dry suit could only do so much. And he was in rushing, gushing water that's continuously flowing over you and crashing into you.

[B]

I would hate that. That's my nightmare. I mean, happy his head is above water.

[A]

Yeah, he's from like, it looks like from like here up, but still, that's really scary. Yep. So of course their first thought is he's at significant risk for hypothermia. And another concern was the water level. Just days before, like we talked about, the rain had caused the river to swell almost three feet. And if that was to happen again, I mean, he's done for. Like he doesn't have much room to work with. He would have drowned. At 5.20pm, a few hours after Valdes fell, the first helicopter arrived a Team of paramedics and police were lowered down on ropes to quickly assess the scene. What was his situation? How stuck was he? How were his vitals doing? And at that point he was still in fairly good shape, especially mentally and ready to try anything to get free. He wasn't desperate, he wasn't despondent, but he was actually described as the by the paramedics later as a perfect patient, just super level headed. Seemed to understand everything that was going on despite a language barrier as well. I mean his friends are acting kind of as interpreters, more so as the as time goes on. But he was just down for everything. Very aware of his situation, the severity of it and just like I'm just.

[B]

Here, just do what you need to do. Yeah, we'll figure this out. Not freaking out, but yeah.

[A]

And of course he's a veteran whitewater rafter. I'm sure he has been not. I know he hasn't been in this particular situation before, but he's seen his fair share of things that could go wrong. It's early December, which means you best bet I have all of my holiday decor up and my favorite part of it all is the the stockings. I have a special embroidered C stocking for Chaska and I'm already stuffing it with little goodies for him. My dog Chaska gets the absolute best that I can afford for him. Stocking suffers and his food included. And that's why I feed him Ollie. Ollie offers fresh protein packed meals made with real human grade ingredients and they offer five tasty recipes all slow cooked for top nutrition. As a notoriously picky eater, Chaska has never been happier than when he's eating Ollie. His favorite is the turkey and blueberry and I can tell you he just feels so much better. His energy levels seem up and for a almost 11 year old boy, that's all that I can ask for from my end. I really love that the Ollie app offers on demand health screenings and that the meals come perfectly portioned in these mess free packages which makes it super easy to store and serve to him. Your dog's wellness starts with their food and that's why Ollie delivers fresh human grade food that your dog will love. Head to ollie.com npad tell them all about your dog and use code npad to get 60% off of your welcome kit when you subscribe today. Plus they offer a happiness guarantee on the first box so if you're not completely satisfied, you'll get your Money back. That's O L-L-I-E.com NPAD and enter code NPAD to get 60% off of your first box. To combat hypothermia, they tasked his friends with bringing him hot tea every 30 minutes, the only warmth they could offer as the river relentlessly crashed into him. As for how to get him loose, they quickly realized that they would need more support because he was, they weren't kidding, you know, his friends weren't kidding. He was seriously stuck. They radioed back, calling for a Swift Water rescue team, stating that specialty tools would be needed to have any hope of freeing him. The doctor on the Swiftwater team would later say that on call, after being given the stats and details of the situation, they believed it was unlikely that Valdis would survive. But by 8pm, with fading daylight, a full Swift water team arrived, armed with supplies that could hopefully do the job. They set up a heavy duty tripod or this, this big metal frame on the rocks above Valdis, creating a pulley like system that they could use to maneuver him around. Essentially a superpowered version of the ropes that Valdis's friends had tried earlier that afternoon. Once again pushing him every which way, left, right, up, down, sideways, in a circle. Nothing worked. Next they thought, what if they pulled Valdus's leg directly rather than pulling from his torso? The rushing river was working to push his leg from the ankle to the knee deeper into the crevice. So not only is he stuck, it's constantly being forced by the water, like the pressure. Yep, yep.

[B]

Ow. And he's. Do you know, can he still feel his leg? Yes, at this point. So he's just in excruciating pain this whole time as well. Yeah, maybe the cold is helping numb it a little bit.

[A]

I was gonna say. I am pretty sure at this point he, he's not completely numb, of course, because he'll later describe that, you know, he felt, he felt a lot, but I mean, at this point he's been in the water, 50 degree water for, you know, over five hours at this point. So yeah, they reached into the strong current and secured a sling over his leg as far up as they could reach. They tried pulling the sling and that is what really caused him a lot of pain when they were pulling directly on his leg versus just trying to pry him out via his torso. He was a trooper though, did, you know, bit his tongue the best he could. But regardless, it didn't work. Still stuck in the same position. They also had power tools with them, airbags, hydraulic lifts, and these spreaders that they hoped could force open a crack in the rock. The spreaders in particular seemed the most promising out of all of the tools and. And all of the different things that they had in mind as far as what could potentially work. So if you. I don't know how to describe it other than if you think of just like this huge pair of pliers that can just force themselves open and spread the rock open with tons of pounds of force. And they were hoping that they don't need to like, blast this rock wide open. They just need to get it a couple of inches, just enough for his leg to get some wiggle room to be pulled out. You know, they don't have to do anything significant. But even that with those high powered. I almost said pliers, spreaders, it didn't work.

[B]

I know this is totally inaccurate, but when you're saying spreaders, I'm picturing the tool they use at the gynecologist. Okay.

[A]

You don't even want to know what I was thinking when I first wrote that. I'm like, how else can I describe this? Yeah, spreaders. It's like a 50 shades of gray thing that I was thinking. Yeah, but I mean, same idea, kind of right on both accounts. So you get the idea. Yeah. It didn't work. Yeah, well. And then after that, they decided to, or they contemplated, I should say, using a jackhammer to chip away at the rock and break it apart. But they quickly nix that because the rushing. With the rushing water component. There's also the fact that they can barely reach his leg in the position it's in. And underwater, when you're underwater too, you.

[B]

Can'T like, hit something. It's all the water interrupts your whole force.

[A]

Well, it's an automated jackhammer, like the heavy powered ones and construction sites makes more sense. Yeah, but, you know, that's a big problem because you can't be super accurate. You don't. You can't see what you're doing. You're just kind of blindly going in there. You could damage a lot. And obviously, if you broke apart too much of the boulder, it could make things worse. It could crush him or crush more of him. So essentially, long story short, they said, it's not worth it. We can't go down that route for hours. All through the night, they tried every idea they could think of, and none of them were successful. By 6:30 the following morning, November 23, they'd exhausted every option. And with each passing hour, he was at greater and greater risk of hypothermia. To survive, he needed to be out of that river and the only choice left was to pull him as hard as they could, breaking his leg to set him free.

[B]

Is he conscious at this point too? Like he doesn't have hypothermia? He's not getting delirious or anything?

[A]

Nope.

[B]

He's just fully aware.

[A]

Yep.

[B]

Oof.

[A]

And you can see.

[B]

Give me something strong and make you loopy for this if I'm gonna be here all night.

[A]

Yeah. And it's very apparent in the documentary and it is, I believe a lot of it is cultural as well and probably a lot to do with his personality because his sister is interviewed during this as well. But he is just so reserved and he doesn't emote a lot of. I mean, even in this entire thing, like when he's interviewed, he's just like, yep, it happened and I'm good, life's good. Like, he's just so even keeled. There's no, you know, he doesn't break down. He's not emotional. And not that I don't think he was impacted or felt emotions. He just didn't emote it like you would. He's not freaking out. It's just crazy.

[B]

He internalizes things more. And on the outside he remains like calm, cool and collected.

[A]

Yes, totally.

[B]

Which is also a survival tactic too, you know.

[A]

Yeah. But it doesn't also. It also doesn't seem like it's coming across as shock because I think that's an important distinction to make and all of that to say, you know, once again, for paramedics, it was a great, like, best case scenario in an awful, awful situation.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Because they could communicate things with him. He would give, you know, accurate and truthful responses. He was just remarkably calm even throughout the night, even after every thing they were trying was not working. He didn't get frustrated, he was just taking it as it came. He spoke some English, although given the circumstances, many of his friends were serving as interpreters for the paramedics, relaying each new rescue technique to him in Lithuanian over cups of steadily delivered hot tea and water. For his friends, despite the terrifying circumstances, this was the Valdes that they knew and loved. Strong, quiet and never one to complain. For work he was a database administrator, but of course his passion was rafting. He had been doing it for decades at this point, thanks to regular trips, he was in great shape. For 65 years old, had a strong community of friends who referred to him as a legend. Even before this incident. He was also close with his sister Rasa, who was described him as stubborn and strong willed.

[B]

For some reason, I missed that he was 65 years old before this.

[A]

Oh, yeah, yeah, I think. I'm pretty sure I mentioned that.

[B]

Probably mentioned it, but I was picturing someone much younger. So just to be 65. Not that 65 year olds can't like do, but just being older and.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Going through all of this and risk of hypothermia and.

[A]

Totally. Yeah. Wow.

[B]

My impressed level just got.

[A]

Just went up. Yeah. All this is climbing the ranks. Yeah. Well, all of that strength was coming in handy. All through the night, he maintained his composure in the face of pain and discomfort and readily accepted each solution proposed by the rescue team. And so the paramedic team prepared for their last best hope and prepared to pull him harder than they had yet breaking his leg if they needed to set him free. So they're like, we're just going to yank you as hard as possible. Get ready.

[B]

Kind of reminding me of the Nutty Putty cave where they didn't want to pull him because they would have to break his leg back, if I remember correctly, they would have to break his knee. So it come.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

Up the other way and it would be extremely painful. But in the scheme of things, if.

[A]

It'S your life, your leg or your leg. Yeah.

[B]

Not an easy choice just because the pain that comes with that and knowing that you're going to be in excruciating.

[A]

Pain and, well, that anticipatory. Just knowing it's coming just makes sense.

[B]

That's why when people do so much worse, they do the 1, 2, 3, go. Like when they pop things back into place and they always do it on like one, so you're not expecting it, so you're like waiting, so you can't like flinch or do anything. And then it's just like 1, 2, 3, but by one it's done. And yeah, like same thing. When you get a shot, they're like, okay, three, two, one, and then they're at three and they've already poked you and it's done at one, Right?

[A]

Well, I wish for Valdis it was like that. It was not. But thank you so much for bringing up Nutty Putty Caves because we get so many recommendations to cover that story. And Cassie did cover that story in April of 2022. 21. Yeah, it was very early 2021, actually April of 2021, because I was just going through all of our.

[B]

Is it one of our first bonus Stor Patreon then?

[A]

It was one of your first bonus stories because you.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, that was a traumatizing story.

[A]

Yeah. I didn't re. Listen to it when I was going through and recategorizing things, but I saw it, and I saw, you know, that it was like 30 minutes long. I'm like. I mean, we covered it. To what extent?

[B]

30 minutes long?

[A]

It was pretty short.

[B]

I remember there's a lot of information there.

[A]

I think I might have just been silent the whole time because I was speechless.

[B]

You just talked for 30 minutes, really? I remember being traumatized, just. Just learning about the Nutty Putty cave story.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Because it's really, really heartbreaking, and it's also really scary and also why I don't. Like, you'll never catch me spelunking, ever.

[A]

She's not a spelunker.

[B]

I'm not a spelunker. Some people aren't built for it, and I am not one of those people.

[A]

Who are built for it. It didn't it also occur this time of year? I believe so, because wasn't his wife, like. Thanks. Around Thanksgiving? She was. I don't know. It's been years since we talked about it clearly, but yeah. So just so everyone knows, it has been checked off our list for quite some time. Anyway, okay, so back to Valdis and the river, just to catch everyone up. He has been in this river, and the team of rescuers have been working to free him from the river for 20 hours at this point. Wow. Despite his mental fortitude, his physical strength was waning after nearly a day of punishing cold. And it had become clear that the only chance Valdes had at survival, the only chance he had at being freed from the Franklin river, was to amputate his leg. It was not an option anyone took lightly. Many later said that they'd never needed to hurt someone in order to help them. And almost shivering at the thought. But there was simply no other alternative. They had tried everything. Amputate the leg or leave him to die. The paramedics told Valdis's friends what they needed to do and asked them to talk to him in his own language to confirm whether they were clear to proceed. Like they didn't want anything lost in transit. Translation? Yeah. You know, this is such a huge, pivotal moment. They wanted to make sure they were all on the same page. And Arvidas, who was his friend, that was kind of acting as the primary caretaker here. There was other people involved, but he was kind of the main point of contact. He is a doctor as well, back in Lithuania, and so he really understood, of course, you know, what exactly was going on, the importance of the decision and all of that. So he was the one to speak to Valdis about this. And he lowered himself down as close as he could towards the river and told him, they're going to pull you harder than ever. Your leg may be broken. So he didn't have, and he is interviewed in the documentary that he didn't have the heart to be the one to tell him, like, what was about to happen. Don't worry, he, he's not just like, gets his leg cut off and doesn't understand. But at first his friend was just like, I can't do this. I can't be the one to like.

[B]

Because they're not planning to pull him anymore. They want to cut his leg off.

[A]

Yes. And he's just saying, yeah.

[B]

Is it like the slow ease in of like, your leg might be broken?

[A]

Yeah. Like, how do you feel about that? Test the waters type of thing.

[B]

Just tell that to one of your best friends or really close friends. That. That's a really hard moment.

[A]

It's a tough situation for sure. So he didn't have the heart to say that they plan to amputate the leg. And Valdas replied, so will I become handicapped? And Arvidus says, maybe Valdis, but if not, you will die here in this hole in as little as a few hours. So he communicated the severity of the situation and of course I'm, you know, Valdis understood. They shared a knowing glance, nodded in agreement and shook hands. I was raised to never arrive to somebody's house empty handed. And this time of year with so many parties and gatherings going on, I need to make sure that I arrive prepped. So I am very happy that I have Naked Wines. This podcast is sponsored by Naked Wines. Naked Wines is a wine club that directly connects you to the world's best independent winemakers so you can get world class wine delivered straight to your door. Use our code npad for the code and [e-mail] and get 100 off of your first order. That's six bottles for just $39.99. Naked Wines has been around for over 15 years and backs over 90 independent wine makers around the world to make the wine you love to drink. And over time, their wine selections and tailored recommendations have gotten more and more on point with every delivery that I get because they're getting to know what I like and what I'd rather stay away from. I think you keeping a bottle for my shipments, usually a cab saw or a Merlot for myself, but then making sure I'm saving some for offerings to others and because I had help choosing them. With Naked Wines, I'm confident that they'll be a hit and I won't have to worry if I selected something good or not. Now is the time to join the naked Wines community. Head to nakedwines.com npad Click enter voucher and put in our code npad for both the code and password. For 100 off off of your first order, that's 6 bottles for only $39.99 with shipping included, that's $100 off of your first 6 bottles at nakedwines.com npad and use the code and password npad for 6 bottles of wine for 39.99. Eventually, everything was communicated, and Valdis gave them the green light. The team prepared for the amputation. But just as they began organizing for the procedure, prepping the drugs and gear and getting ready for the procedure, an incident within an incident unfolded. Dr. Nick Scott, the only doctor on site, slipped, fell, and broke his arm.

[B]

No, wait. The doctor who just told him, the.

[A]

Doctor who is preparing to cut off this guy's leg slipped just like Valdis did and went to catch himself and broke his arm or his wrist.

[B]

So now the only doctor there is his friend.

[A]

No, no, no. Sorry. Oh, I'm so sorry. No. Okay. Arvidas is a doctor in Lithuania, but he's not a surgeon. He's just a doctor. And then.

[B]

So the only surgeon on site.

[A]

Yes, like part of the paramedic team medical team who was preparing to amputate Valdis's leg. She just broke his arm.

[B]

No, sir.

[A]

It's like you need both hands.

[B]

This is why safety is very important on the scene.

[A]

So following that, a request is made for a fresh team of personnel. By 9 that morning, 21 hours after Valdis fall, another team arrived to complete the amputation, led by Dr. Jorian Kippix, a trauma specialist at the Royal Hobart Hospital. In addition to his medical background, Dr. Kippix is a skilled mountaineer, which is important because working on this scene involved being lowered down by ropes and a climbing harness in order to get to Valdis. So, and just. Of course, it goes without saying, any amputation is a complex procedure, but this operation made each step involved in an amputation of this kind of so much more complicated and complex.

[B]

I can't even believe this is an option.

[A]

You know, you should just. I mean, I really encourage people to just at some point, whether it's after this episode or if you have the ability to pause and even just look up on Google, you know, if you type in Valdis's name, this scene will pop right up and you can see the hole that he's in. This. I mean, we've been a part of amputations before in vet med. And even in the most controlled, sterile, quote unquote predictable environments, it's still. It's. You're taking something's limb off.

[B]

Cutting through bone is not easy.

[A]

No.

[B]

Either. It's very. Isn't very hard. Even with the patient asleep and controlling.

[A]

The bleeding and monitoring vitals and keeping them warm and keeping their mind conscious, too.

[B]

For something like that, anesthesia is definitely something that is very important because it's such a sensitive procedure that they can feel pain.

[A]

And it's just.

[B]

And now you have someone who is not in an operating room, and you have a surgeon who is being lowered down via ropes, which I do think the fact that he. How you just said, is an experienced mountaineer, I'm sure, was. They probably picked him because of that. I would imagine, because it's already a really difficult situation to have a surgeon coming into, but to have someone who's at least familiar with the outdoor equipment that they need to utilize was probably really important.

[A]

And just a reminder, not only are they on the side of the Franklin river, he's under his legs, underwater.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

This guy's not gonna be able to see.

[B]

The doctor gonna snorkel.

[A]

He's just. I'm closing my eyes. He's probably not closing his eyes. Do you know what I mean? It's just wild.

[B]

I'm picturing him with a snorkel and going down. My actual nightmare. I know it's not funny because it's not funny. It's tragic and it's horrific. And if I was in this situation, that would be the scariest moment of my life.

[A]

But just a little.

[B]

A little comedic snorkeling relief to throw it right.

[A]

Well, the first step was not to put on a snorkel. It was to sedate Valdis, who was thankfully, yes, like, please knock me out.

[B]

Walk out if you are going be doing this.

[A]

Yeah, they. He went into a K hole for sure. They gave him ketamine.

[B]

Yes, he should.

[A]

So at this point in time, despite how strong he's been up until this point, he's starting to fade. He's growing weaker despite all. You can have all the mental strength you want, but this is now almost 24 hours after the fact. Your body can only do so much. So he's starting to get a bit weaker. But since he was pinned upright on the rock falling over could mean drowning. So because he's, like, holding himself up, kind of pinned in this position. But they were afraid that once they would sedate him and he'd slump over. I mean, that's going to compromise your airway. They're not intubating him. They're not doing any of this other stuff. And they did choose. They go into it in the documentary, but for people who are curious that work in the medical field, they chose this particular drug because it's still. His body was still able to maintain breathing and, like, respiration and his heart rate normally, because other drugs, you know, when you give him that, you have to support those bodily functions while under anesthesia because your body quits doing that. So because they didn't have any of that other equipment, they decided to give him this drug.

[B]

I'm so impressed by the medical team here.

[A]

Also.

[B]

To be able to just the situation that they're facing and just finding all of these. These ways to work around it is incredible.

[A]

Yeah. So they aren't administering general anesthesia. Instead, like I said, they decided to administer ketamine, rendering Valdis unconscious, but maintaining his heart and breathing rates. Paramedic Rohan Killam winched himself down to hold Valdes's hand and keep him upright. The next step was using a tourniquet. For those who don't know, it's a strap that's tightened really hard above a wound to stop blood flow and prevent bleeding, especially during a procedure like this. But the standard tourniquets that they had on hand weren't going to work because they used Velcro. And they're very. Almost identical to the ones that we were practicing with in our wilderness first aid course that we took this summer. Just kind of like the heavy duty ones. But there's still Velcro involved in it. But they. They tried to utilize that, but because of the water, it was rendering the Velcro. It was compromising the Velcro, and it wasn't staying put like it needed to. So they improvised and instead used ratchet straps as a tourniquet. Smart.

[B]

Very innovative.

[A]

Again, they're like, what do we have on hand? What can we do here?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And finally, as Dr. Kipps lowered himself down, he was confronted with one last obstacle. Amputations are normally visual operations. You have to see what you're doing. But with Valdis's leg entirely underwater, the doctor took off his gloves to feel his way through the procedure. No snorkel involved.

[B]

That makes more sense because the surgeon needs to breathe appropriately. But Right.

[A]

But imagine you're just like, okay, here we go. Just blindly feeling around, kind of like. Remember, not kind of at all like this, but do you remember ever going to Halloween parties when you were a kid and putting your hand in those mystery boxes and feeling around? Did you ever do that? Sometimes it was like, oh, you're feeling eyeballs, but they were peeled grapes or brains, and it was just cold spaghetti or something like that, and you just had to stick your hand in and.

[B]

Oh, my God, I see why it happened around Halloween, though.

[A]

Yeah. Anyways. All right. And this part, if you're super squeamish. I didn't go into elaborate detail, but there is details about an amputation. So if you don't want to hear that, you can skip ahead like a minute or so, but here we go. He made his first cut through the thigh. But to complete the amputation in this situation, they relied on a tool called the giggly saw. A long, sharp wire with fine serrations connected by two handles on either end. I vividly remember using. I never use this tool, but watching doctors use it and it's quite a sight. I mean, it looks pretty barbaric, honestly, when you think of a surgery, you think of just like these high tech tools and just slicing and dicing and precision and then you just suture up and it's all.

[B]

It is rough and not dirty, sterile, but it's just like really putting your weight in.

[A]

And. Yeah, so, I mean, this is a lot of visuals. So if you're not watching on YouTube, then. Sorry, trying my best to describe it, but. So essentially it's this serrated wire, like almost like the string, and has two handles on it like this. And then you would put it under a leg and kind of just see saw back and forth and saw your way through. And, you know, our job when, you know, monitoring anesthesia and assisting, sometimes you would have to hold the leg. Cause we've done leg amputations on dogs and sometimes cats. And you'd have to stabilize both ends so the foot and the upper thigh closer to their torso while the doctor is sawing through it. So this is what this guy is doing underwater to a human leg. And he, you know, this giggly saw was chosen for a variety of reasons. Number one, its small size made it ideal for use in the field. You know, you're in a tiny little crevice. You can't take a big round saw and plug it in, you know, so that is one of the reasons that they chose this tool. But it's also prone to being fragile. And they found out that that fragility was going to be a problem, because as soon as the doctor started to use the saw, he made it smoothly all the way to the femur bone. I mean, he made an initial cut and kind of sawed through the meat and the tissue of his leg. And. But as soon as he kind of hit the femur, the paramedics from above watched as the doctor just kind of raised the tool and it was broken. And they were sol with that.

[B]

Like, touching my own leg?

[A]

Yeah, like holding your thigh, your left thigh, Like, I appreciate you. And initially, the paramedics were like, oh, my God, he's through. Look at that. Because he, like, was holding it up, and then they squinted and they're like, oh, shit, it's.

[B]

They thought it was like a hurrah, like, huzzah.

[A]

It's like, it's over. No, he was holding up the broken saw. It had snapped in half. He hadn't made it all the way through the leg, but he had made it far enough through that they were able to. He was able to manually break it. So he had to use his own hands to break off the rest of his leg, and he was able to free Valdis. And this entire procedure took less than two minutes.

[B]

What?

[A]

That's how skilled this doctor is.

[B]

Two minutes to amputate someone's leg?

[A]

Yep. That's amazing. Underwater. Underwater.

[B]

That's amazing.

[A]

Yeah. If you need a doctor, this guy. I don't know what else.

[B]

Or an amputation.

[A]

I don't know. And thankfully, the makeshift ratchet strap tourniquet was working perfectly because one of the things that the doctor noted in the documentary was, you know, he kind of was, like, bracing himself for just, like an onslaught of blood as soon as he cut into his leg. But he was like, there was such minimal blood. It was working so well. We were so happy. I'm a big list gal, and I just finished up writing my holiday shopping list. And despite feeling like I got ahead of shopping this year, I still have quite a few names on this list. But instead of panicking thing, I'm turning to uncommon goods. They have so many, literally thousands of one of a kind gifts that are high quality, unique, and are often handmade or made right here in the US Many are crafted by independent artists and small businesses, which, of course, we're huge fans of. I fell into a let me make homemade butter for everyone phase. Thank you, Instagram. And I found the cutest options for butter dishes to pair with that butter. And as gifts to friends and family this year. So I've been browsing Uncommon Goods specifically for butter dishes. It's just been perfect because I'm going to give everyone the same homemade butter, but everyone is going to get a different type of butter dish depending on their vibe and what they like. But if you're not on a butter journey, they have something for everyone. From moms and dads to kids and teens, book lovers to sports fans, foodies, mixologists and gardeners, you'll find Find unforgettable gifts for every interest and with every purchase you make at Uncommon Goods, they give back $1 to a non profit partner of your choice. They've donated more than $3.1 million to date. So don't wait. Make this holiday the year you give something truly unforgettable. To get 15 off of your next gift, go to UncommonGoods.com NPAD that's UncommonGoods.com NPAD for 15% off off. Don't miss out on this limited time offer. Uncommon Goods were all out of the ordinary. So thankfully the tourniquet is working. He was able to get the leg free. Well, Valdis free of his leg, I guess. And they hauled him up six feet up the rock face and prepared him to be flown to the hospital. Because of his hypothermic state and almost an entire day in the water, the team knew that his bodily functions were going to be slow and they were slowing down and they were worried that they would stop entirely, you know, now that he's kind of like out of the situation. His body isn't in that adrenaline prone like survive, survive, survive. It's now he's out and it's kind of chill and they're like, oh no. This is really when we need to be careful and monitor him closely.

[B]

They say some of the most dangerous points in these rescue missions are not when you're actually still in danger. It's once you're out of it because your body gets out of that like fight for survival mode. And it's like, okay, I'm safe now. And that's when bad things start happening.

[A]

That's when you're crashing out of the woods yet. Yeah. Yep. After just 30 minutes of waiting for the helicopter, he stopped breathing. They connected him to a portable ventilator and just as the helicopter was arriving, his heart stopped. The paramedics performed CPR until they could attach a CPR machine, a little miraculous box strapped to his chest that could keep his heart beating. As they raised him and the doctor.

[B]

Into the helicopter technology really is wild.

[A]

I mean, if that didn't exist or they didn't have that on hand, he would. He would have never made it. I mean, you would.

[B]

The underwater surgery, the helicopter that's picking you up in the middle of nowhere, this. This heart machine, everything is just amazing.

[A]

As Dr. Kipps called ahead to the hospital in Hobart, the helicopter vanished from view. Still on.

[B]

I thought you were saying that.

[A]

What?

[B]

I thought you were gonna say the helicopter vanished, like got lost or crashed or something.

[A]

It has him. It has him whisking him away.

[B]

We can't have that right now.

[A]

No, we're good with a helicopter.

[B]

You just, just. I had a mini story is far.

[A]

From over, but still on shore. His friends had been instructed to stay clear and not watch the operation. But Arvidus, the doctor, watched from afar as they pulled his friend ashore and raised him into the air. And that's when he caught sight, of course, of Valdis's body, the color of his skin. And he. To, you know, when he first saw him, he's like, he's dead or he's going to die very soon. Like, this is the look of somebody.

[B]

Who is a doctor.

[A]

Yes. And as he returned to camp and his friends were all asking, like, the rest of the group were asking, how did it go? How does he look like? What happened? He was completely silent for several minutes, choking back tears, unsure of what to say, and all he could muster out is, let's just all pray for our friend. Because he didn't know how to say, like, there's no coming back from that. What I just saw. Yeah. As for the paramedic team, they'd all but lost hope that Valdis would survive. I mean, even the trip to the hospital. In the ABC documentary that I have been referring to and that I'll link in the episode description, the paramedic Rohan kill him would say, when you've been a paramedic for 17 years, you basically never see a patient like that and think that you will see them again. You think he's dead and there's a little part of you that thinks we killed him as his rescuers. Despite the odds being stacked against Valdis, the team at the Royal Hobart Hospital prepped for his arrival and tried to save him. By the time that he had arrived, he'd been in cardiac arrest for over an hour. But in just 15 minutes, they had him hooked up to a heart and lung machine and worked in hopes for the best. At that time, all of the paramedics, all of the rafters and all of Their equipment were being airlifted out of the national park, and as the paramedics returned home, they got a text. Valdes had a heart rate 90 beats per minute, and his body temperature was climbing. He was alive.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

Paramedic Rohan again said, if your heart stops beating on the side of the Franklin river, you're toast. Except that Valdis died of hypothermic cardiac arrest. And it's one of the really unique ways where you actually have a chance. Because hypothermia slows down all of your bodily functions, it provides a slim chance to start those functions up again. If you've ever taken a wilderness first aid course, there's a saying, you're not dead until you're warm and dead.

[B]

Which also is a saying that came from my episode when I covered.

[A]

Let me read my next two sentences.

[B]

Sorry, sorry. Continue.

[A]

If you want to hear more. If you want to hear more about this topic and an extraordinary story of being cold but not dead, please, please listen Back to episode 100, titled Frozen Alive in the Scandinavian Mountains, where Cassie covered the amazing story of Anna Bagenholm, who survived the lowest body temperature ever recorded following a skiing accident in Norway.

[B]

Ah, you added it. I did, yes.

[A]

How could I ever forget? That's.

[B]

That story was. That one wasn't even in a national park. I just thought it was such a wild story. It got onto the podcast.

[A]

That's actually when. Because I went back and listened to it on, like, 1.7 speed because I wanted to make sure that we actually talked a lot about this particular situation because, of course, I wasn't the one who researched it. So I only have memory of you telling it to me, and it was a while ago. Yeah. So I kind of wanted to hear what we were talking about. And we did. That was the first episode that we mentioned. This is off the. What? God, what did we say? It's off the trails. This is our. We're like, oh, we can do a bonus one every year. Let's do that. This was the first episode that we're like, oh. And then towards the end, I determined that that one shouldn't count as your off the trails episode because it was still outdoor related. Plot twist, plot twist. So if you have no idea what we're talking about. Allegedly, on episode 100, we came up with the plan that once a year, each of us would cover a topic for an episode that had nothing to do with the outdoors or national parks. Hence off the trails type of thing. I think we only did that one time.

[B]

Since then, I think so too.

[A]

And it was a combined episode.

[B]

And if you said that that one didn't even count, then.

[A]

Yeah, well, no, I was talking about the one where I did Dorothy Eady and you did the UFO thing.

[B]

Yeah, the ufo. But I mean, if you're saying the one in Norway of this story where she almost died in a skiing accident, if that one didn't count because it was outdoor based, then we've only done one episode ever.

[A]

Yeah, truly one ever.

[B]

So that was off the trails.

[A]

We're doing great.

[B]

They're coming.

[A]

They're coming. Yeah. So anyway, yeah, that's a really great episode. Such an interesting and amazing story. But back to Valdis. Of course, he falls into that category and that he has a chance, you know, and that's great. In certain circumstances. And they were really encouraged that his body was starting to get. Get the vitals back to normal and he was clearly still alive. But he wasn't out of the woods for four days. He remained unconscious and it was unclear if he had suffered any sort of brain damage, which of course is of huge concern following any type of cardiac event or event in which oxygen isn't going up into the brain. Neurological damage that you can't see in any sort of other parameters like a heart. Just because you have a heartbeat doesn't mean you're breathing, that you have normal brain function. You know, like, that's. The brain is number one priority. So they were. That's what their concern was at this point in time.

[B]

Gotcha.

[A]

So to find out what was going on with his brain, they decided to schedule a brain scan to see if there was any hope of him recovering because he's been unconscious for four days now and they're really concerned. But then when, you know it, on the day that his scan was scheduled, Baldus just woke up.

[B]

He's like, hey, what's up?

[A]

Hey, what's up? Hello. No, he didn't do that. He did open his eyes. He looked around the room and he was struggling to speak and appeared really confused to people. But he clearly was there. There was thought behind what was happening. And the hospital actually made the decision to reach out to the Lithuanian community in Hobart, who sent people to Valdis's room to speak to him in his language and offer some comfort to of home. Because his friends weren't at the hospital at this point, but they wanted somebody from his community at least to kind of communicate what was happening and translate to the medical team what he was experiencing.

[B]

Especially if he has memory loss at this point and he doesn't speak the language that is being spoken all around him. I'm sure that would just add to the confusion. So that sounds like a really good idea to have people who can, who can truly communicate with him.

[A]

Well, it was a lovely thought and probably appreciated, but his first words were in English and they were, I'm a survivor.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

Mic drop.

[B]

That's incredible.

[A]

Valdes's friends and family were told, as were the responding paramedics. There were more than a few moments with more than a few people of just cheering. Yeah, like as soon as he woke up, like, and he was, was able to communicate and clearly he didn't have any sort of significant brain damage, at least initially. Well, to be clear, he, he didn't. But you know, in those moments you're all kind of like holding your breath of what's gonna happen, what's gonna unfold here. But just hearing him say, I'm a survivor, like after all of that and literally dying, you know, fuck yeah, is right. And during his weeks long stay in the hospital, he had a chance to meet the men who saved him. Ironically enough, Dr. Kippek's day job was as a trauma specialist at that very hospital. So not only did he perform the field amputation, he was also Valdis treating doctor during his hospital stay. And there came a moment where the doctor had to tell Valdis that he was the one who amputated his leg. The doctor said, I felt like I had to apologize. And he too was quite emotional and I remember him looking up at me saying, I'm sorry. But it formed a bond, I guess. Quite a unique bond really. In January of 2025, Valdis was discharged from the hospital and traveled home to Lithuania, greeted by a cheering crowd of family and friends. Over time, Valdis's fuzzy memory of the incident began to return to him. Because at first it was kind of in bits and pieces and flashes and it wasn't super clear, but it all kind of came back. And he remembered the fall and jokingly blamed it on some shitty shoes that he bought at the store.

[B]

He's like, that's a lawsuit for sure.

[A]

It was a bad purchase. He vaguely remembered nodding his head yes, saying that he understood that the amputation needed to take place. And he does remember saying, essentially, just do what you need to do. And slowly but surely, in spite of his life changing injury, he started to regain his strength. From being wheelchair bound to using crutches and now walking on a prosthetic leg. He says, I didn't make a big deal about losing my Leg. Just be thankful you're alive. After one wrong step, after one thing went wrong. Valdes survival relied on a thousand things going right. Survival hinged on his own remarkable calm and courage in the face of death. It relied on the rapid response and capable care of not only Dr. Joe Kippen, but a dozen other team members who I haven't mentioned by name in this episode. Paramedics, swift water rescuers and the entire team at the Royal Hobart Hospital as of just last week. For this rescue and his ongoing dedication to saving lives, Emergency Medicine Specialist Dr. Joe Kippex has been recognized as the 2026 Australian of the Year for Tasmania. In his speech, he made a heartfelt nod to his colleagues, other rescuers and support staff involved in the Franklin river operation, saying, quote, it does feel a bit odd to be singled out. All I can think of in my heart is that I'm representing a whole bunch of people. And then he went on to recognize Valdis, saying, I'd like to thank and think of Valdis as a patient to this case, as one of the bravest, most determined people I have ever met. And then earlier this year, back in July, Lithuanian President Giantis Noceda presented Dr. Joe with the life saving cross at the Presidential palace in the country's capital as a symbol of national appreciation for courage, compassion and professionalism in saving the life of Valdis, Dr. Joe once again gave credit to everyone, saying, quote, the rescue was the culmination of efforts of a large number of people and all of their efforts were integral to its success. So it's a nice award for me, but it's more for the entire organization. And if his friends had been wondering if Valdes had fully recovered, if he had regained his strength or retained his fearlessness, that doubt has certainly cleared up. Because one year after the fall, he had already begun planning a return to the Franklin River, a 2026 trip to get back on the water and conquer the river that took his leg. Fuck yeah. Fuck yeah. Valdis. That's the story of his survival on the Franklin river in Tasmania.

[B]

I love stories of the resilience of people. You know, from everything that happened in that story. There were so many times where, like you said, things could have gone wrong and the fact that he didn't lose his life, but he had a really severe thing happen to him that altered the rest of his life and for him to come out of it. And I'm sure that there's a lot that is missing from the story of just his recovery and the emotional turmoil that happens after that. But to go through all of that and then plan your return back and to overcome it and to just be like, you know what? I'm a survivor. I'm gonna keep living my life and I'll be back is just incredible. And I think there are so many human stories that are similar in that vein, of people taking really bad hands and just using it to better themselves or to continue living the life that they want to. And I just think that that's so special.

[A]

Yeah. He's going on a redemption tour, and I have this weird thought. That's all. All you said was so beautiful. Totally agree. The only thing I have been thinking after him saying, like, oh, I'm going back and I'm gonna just, like, conquer that river. I wonder if he's gonna stop, like, where his leg is, because his leg is still in there.

[B]

I bet it's gone now. I bet it's, like, slowly, like, been pulled away.

[A]

Right. Even the bones, they're for. Wedged in there. Yeah.

[B]

But it's probably being held there by. I just imagine it would deteriorate or.

[A]

I mean, all the little bones and, like, all the metatarsals, like, all the tiny little bones, I think are gone, but. But, like, his. Like, I think a lot of his leg maybe in there, I don't know, because it's trapped in a wetsuit. It's trapped in a wetsuit.

[B]

Oh, yeah.

[A]

I don't know. It's a morbid thing.

[B]

It is a morbid pot, but I would drink a beer right in, right at that point, pour one out from my Millay.

[A]

You know, like, it just.

[B]

Seems like a look down there just because you don't want to trap your other leg in there.

[A]

But no, I don't know. Yeah, because. And I mean, I was. They didn't get into it, of course. And, like, I feel. I don't want to feel, like, insensitive when wondering this, but I think it's just kind of where, like, logistically my brain goes. Because if he was, in fact, to. To die there, you know, if something happened, if he. Whether he drowned, like, the weather changed and he drowned, or they were unable to get to him in time or something went wrong that delayed everything and he passed away there, what would they have done with his remains? Right.

[B]

They would have had to still get him out somehow.

[A]

Right. So I don't know which would have been so traumatic, I mean, especially for his friends and all that. But anyways, that's just. We don't even have to go down that road because he's fine and all is well with Valdis. And I really encourage you to take an hour. If you have, you know, instead of watching like Love island or something, watch this documentary. And I don't even know if love. I've never seen Love island, but I feel like it's just always on. So take a break from that and watch Valdis, ABC documentary, incredible story of survival.

[B]

And I think something that surprised me about this episode is not only do I love the resilience of people, but I was really not expecting so much of a deep dive of the actual rescuers and the medical portion of it. And I was just so impressed with the medical aspect of actually going through and saving his life and what they had to do, how that whole operation worked. So I thought that that was a really cool different way of telling the story as well.

[A]

Well, I'm glad you enjoyed it and I hope everyone got a kick out of it and we'll. Sorry, I do feel a little. I don't know why. And look how sweet I look.

[B]

You do look. We look so sweet in our white Christmas sweaters.

[A]

I know, but looks can be deceiving. But anyway, thank you everyone for listening. We will see you next week, but in the meantime, enjoy the view, but watch your back. Bye, everyone. Bye. Thank you for joining us again this week. If you love National Park After Dark and want to hear explore exclusive bonus stories, join us on Patreon or Apple subscriptions. Patreon subscribers have access to our National Park After Dark book club, live streams, Discord and much more. If you prefer to watch our episodes video episodes are now available on YouTube. If you're enjoying the show, please take a moment to rate, review and subscribe on your favorite listening platform. And to follow along with all our adventures, you can find us on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and X at national park after Dark. Life tests homes certainteed roofing and siding make sure they're ready so you're built for stormy seasons Built for what's next Built for this Certainteed Built for this.