Fallen climber takes smiling photo, unaware of her serious injuries
MAGDALENA smiled for this photo because she was happy to be alive after falling from a cliff. But she had no idea how injured she really was.
THOUGH bruised and bloodied, Magdalena Michalowska’s smiling face in this photo suggests nothing of the real trouble she was in.
The 41-year-old had just picked herself up after falling 15m from a rock face on Stob Garbh mountain near Stirling, Scotland on Saturday.
She took the photo as she was “just happy to be alive” after the fall.
But it wasn’t until rescuers arrived and she was flown off the mountain and taken to hospital that Ms Michalowska realised the full extent of her injuries — she had broken her neck.
The Polish woman, who lives in Glasgow, had suffered a cracked cheek, broken angle and neck vertebrae fracture, as well as severe bruising.
She said she was “surprised” by the extent of her injuries.
“I can’t move my body or neck as I’ve cracked part of my spine,” she told Deadline News, adding she had to wear a neck brace for the next six weeks.
“I was surprised because I didn’t feel a lot of pain.”
Ms Michalowska had set out with friends to climb the mighty 957m peak when the incident happened.
She said her friend Wojciech Turek were climbing a separate path to the top of the mountain when she fell.
She posted photos her friend took in the aftermath of the fall on social media to warn others about the dangers of hill walking.
“My last hill walk finished in hospital. Be careful people in the mountains,” she wrote as a caption.
She told Deadline News she smiled for the photos because she “was just happy to be alive”.
“I just try to always find something positive in every case,” she said. “I was very happy (Wojciech) was there.”
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