Sep. 3-When four adventurous friends from Mentor planned a trip to go hiking and camping in Alaska, the vacation itinerary didn't include being unexpected heroes.
However, two days into the excursion that was a year in the planning stages, the four men got more than just scenic views and rigorous terrain. They got the chance to help someone in need.
Rollin Pachinger, Gabe Ananea and Jason Sorgen are all firefighter/paramedics - Pachinger and Sorgen for Mentor and Ananea in Mentor-on-the-Lake. Along with their close friend Bryan Brown, the quartet came across an injured woman named Janet Johnson on Flattop Mountain in Alaska and helped carry her down 2.5 miles to the bottom earlier this summer.
The elderly woman had broken her ankle on a hike to spread her husband's ashes in Denali National Park.
"I'm just glad we were there," Ananea said. "It was Day 2 of the trip, we were doing a backpacking trip in Denali and saw this woman who was clearly injured and unable to put weight on her leg. We felt we had a duty to do."
The four men took turns giving Johnson a piggyback ride down the mountain while another man who was with her went on ahead to get to the bottom and prepare to transport her to the hospital. Initial attempts to contact the police or fire departments were unsuccessful but she eventually was transported to a hospital and she eventually had surgeries to heal broken bones.
"It's pretty incredible on a once-in-a-lifetime trip to a place as beautiful as Alaska and you meet a nice lady who was obviously not going to be able to make it off the mountain without some help," Pachinger said. "Helping people is what we do, it's ingrained in us. I know we would have helped in that situation no matter who it was. Whether we are at work or not, helping people is in our blood."
The four men didn't expect to hear from Johnson again once they got her in their car, but when they got home from Alaska they learned the city received an email from her in which she call her rescuers "angels".
The four men also got some unexpected recognition and notoriety from the encounter with Johnson.
"I never expected to hear from her again after we said goodbye and certainly never expected any kind of recognition," Pachinger said. "It was just four guys trying to do the right thing."
The men completed their vacation in Alaska and are already planning other excursions in the future to New Hampshire and Vermont.
"We are built to help people, it is ingrained in all of us." Ananea said. "It was kind of cool we were able to help someone in that situation off duty. I am just glad she is going to be OK."
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