Monday, October 21, 2013

Ken Kamler: Medical Miracle on Everest

TED Talk Ken Kamler talks in this TED talk about a man he met and treated on an expedition to the summit of Mount Everest. Beck Weathers was somehow able to survive two days and one night lying in snow on Mount Everest during an intense snow storm. Beck Weathers set out on an expedition to the summit of Mount Everest in 1996. The expedition began as normally as any other expedition on Everest would, but it would soon end up in the biggest tragedy that has ever happened on the mountain. Just as a few climbers were nearing the summit a massive snow storm broke out. Very high winds made it very cold and many people got hypothermia and severe frost bite. There was only one doctor on this expedition and he treated many people with frost bite and hypothermia, he was Ken Kamler. Beck was caught out near the summit of the mountain when the snow storm hit and he immediately got hypothermia and collapsed. People stepped over him on their way back to camp three which is on the mountain and where Ken Kamler was. Beck didn’t even have enough strength to blink in order to show other people he was still alive. Somehow against all odds Beck survived lying there on the mountain for roughly 36 hours. Beck thought about his family back home and how he must get back to them. He then summoned enough courage to get up and climb his way down the mountain back to campsite three. He entered the tent where Ken was treating on the victims, looked at Ken and asked hi where he should sit in the tent. Ken treated him, Beck survived against all odds and later a helicopter came and rescued them which was the highest helicopter rescue recorded in history. Five people were killed in that storm and one man that should have died, but didn’t. This TED talk affected me in a very positive way. It has proved to me that humans can survive so much and go through so much just by having the motivation to do it. This is something that I would think is totally impossible for someone to survive through, but somehow Beck Weathers was able to do it. Ken Kamler: Medical Miracle on Everest. TED. March 2010. Web

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