No one knew how the nearly dead youth belly crawled onto the road that ran along the edge of the state game lands that chilly Thanksgiving night. No one even began to understand how the shattered eleven year old managed to keep living. The broken collar bone and split lips were hardly worth mentioning since both legs and both arms were broken. A quarter of his ribs were broken while the rest were fractured. One lung was collapsed and the other punctured. The broken jaw, nose and orbitals as well as a fractured skull were added evidence of the brutality he’d endured. The internal bleeding in the liver, spleen and kidneys had mostly clotted by the time he arrived at the trauma center after being medivaced.

The BIG adventure – I’m ready now.

Even when you go out filled with confidence - there are nasties offering endless pain. For first-timers, the risk may be more than they can bear.