Note: Nine-year-old Tommy Botell of Red Bluff died in a July 29 rock slide during his family’s outing at Lassen Volcanic National Park. Below is Jennifer Botell’s Sunday comment to anewscafe.com in which she tells what happened the day she lost her son. Photos courtesy of Tom and Jennifer Botell from their son’s memorial webpage.
My family and I have always been the type of family that enjoys the outdoors. We love to fish, camp, and hike. On July 29 2009, our camping adventure turned into a family’s worst nightmare.
I got up that morning and packed peanut butter & jelly sandwiches, granola bars, and water. Our goal for the day was to hike Lassen Peak Trail and have a nice picnic lunch at the top.
My son, Tommy, grabbed his Ranger Rick Binoculars. He wanted to see if he could spot Red Bluff from the peak. This was to be our third hike up to the peak in the last four years. It has some of the most magnificent views of the area as you hike up the trail, but the real reward is the view from the top. It is simply breathtaking.
We started up the trail, talking to other families as we hiked. We made several stops to drink water and have snacks. My son kept reminding me that “a hydrated Scout is a happy Scout.” Along the way, we stopped to take pictures for people and they returned the favor for us. We were getting to the last part of the trail, known as the switchbacks. My kids went up ahead of us. Tommy turned around and said, “Mommy, I am doing really good, huh?” I said, “Yes, you are, buddy.”
Katrina and Tommy sat on a retaining wall and Brittany was standing up behind them, preparing to sit alongside of Tommy. As I was approaching, Katrina and Tommy were waving at me and my husband. I can remember thinking, “what a great Kodak Moment.”
I stopped for a moment and was about to put my camera up to take a picture when I saw the wall and my kids fall and the wall roll over them. My husband was running toward them. I threw my camera, flung my backpack off, and went running to them. I threw myself on the ground next to them. Brittany had run back down the trail and was standing there crying. I started screaming “HELP ME!!” My husband started screaming “SOMEBODY HELP US”. We screamed over and over again. People were just staring at us, not knowing what to do.
We could see that Katrina was severely injured, because she was covered in blood and had a huge gash on her head. Blood was coming out of her mouth and she started gurgling it. We told her to keep spitting the blood out. She told me later that she thought she was going to drown in her own blood. I could see only her beautiful blue eyes through all the blood. I repeatedly told her not to go to sleep and asked if she was okay. She kept giving me a thumbs up sign every time I asked.
We began to believe that no one was coming to our aid, so my husband threw someone his cell phone and said, “Find service and call 911.” This was at about 12:30. Unfortunately, I could not tell how injured my sweet baby boy was. He did not have any blood on him. He started to slide down the mountain on his stomach. My husband yelled for someone to get him. People were standing on the paths above us and he started yelling for them to get off the path. He yelled, “You can kill us all… Get off the trail!”
My husband told me to hold Katrina’s head where it was bleeding and apply pressure to stop the bleeding. He got behind Tommy and tried to keep him from going down the hill. He lifted him up and put him near me and Katrina. Tommy looked my way and said, “Momma, I can’t see.” I saw that his eyes were dilated. I said, “He has a concussion.” I remembered hearing that if someone has a concussion they shouldn’t be moved, so I told him to come next to me and put his head on my leg. My husband helped him over. I saw that he had a huge piece of flesh missing from his leg but no blood was coming from it.
As I was telling Katrina to spit, I remembered that someone with a concussion should not fall asleep so I turned my head back to Tommy to tell him not to go to sleep, but he was gone. His eyes were open but he was gone.
I started screaming, “HELP TOMMY, PLEASE HELP TOMMY!” People were standing around looking at us. That is when a couple of people cleared an area next to me to start doing CPR. Brittany knelt down and touched her little brother and said, “Momma, he is cold.”
They started CPR on him. My husband and I begged Tommy to breathe. I told him, “He was surrounded by angels that were helping to bring him back to me. Come back to me!” Someone offered to walk Brittany down the mountain. I threw my cell phone to a young man and asked him to go around the corner (where there was service) and call our friend and family physician, Debbie Sutcliffe. This call was made at 1:32. He came back and said that she reported that a helicopter was being sent.
People continued to work on Tommy, but they found no pulse. A minister that was hiking the trail came and said a prayer over Katrina and then Tommy. I began to beg God, “Not today, please don’t take him today.” I began to sing to the children, “You are my sunshines, my only sunshines…” and “Hush Little Baby”.
After hours of waiting, a ranger made it up to us. He said he had no medical training and that help was on the way. Another ranger came after that. Then a boy came and threw some of the paramedics gear over by us and said he was helping them get their gear up to us. The paramedics came and started working on Tommy.
I think it was around 3:30-4:00 when a man from the helicopter said that they would be taking my daughter first. They said they were sorry, there was nothing they could do for my son and placed Brittany’s pink Tinker Bell sweatshirt over his face. My daughter Katrina’s head was still on my right leg and I still had her head wound in my hand. They brought the sling to put her on so that she could be airlifted.
My husband was crying and hugging Tommy’s face, saying, “Oh, Tommy, oh, dear Tommy.” I laid my head on Tommy’s body and held him as I watched them fly Katrina away under the helicopter. I laid there holding on to him until they said the second helicopter was there to take him. They loaded him up. As we began our hike down the trail, I stopped to watch my baby boy fly off and remember thinking, “How he would have loved to have flown in a helicopter.”
It was a sad, solemn hour and a half walk down the mountain. My heart hurt. My mind questioned how and why this could happen. Was my life too perfect? Was I too happy? How can this happen? My sweet little man was gone… in a matter of minutes.
My life will never be the same.
