Family thanks ALERT for saving son, 7

Fundraiser for helicopter rescue service scheduled for Saturday night

Michael and Becky Exferd of Kalispell were like most people who occasionally see or hear the red ALERT helicopter zipping across the sky to pick up a patient clinging to life.

It never occurred to them that their little boy's life would depend on the pilot and crew making it through a snowy night to the Polebridge Mercantile parking lot.

"It puts life in perspective," Becky said. "He wasn't doing anything wrong. Anything can happen at any time."

The Exferds and their son Brady plan to attend Saturday night's ALERT fundraiser banquet and auction as living proof of the difference the rescue service made as Brady gasped for breath after an accident in March 2008.

The family was spending the weekend at a Forest Service cabin with their friends Neil Rye and Scott and Heather Bruner. The Bruner children - Gatlin, 7, and Bridger, 3 - were a perfect match to Brady, 7, and his brother Carson, 3.

"We went up to do some sledding and snowmobiling," Michael said. "It was just a good family get-together."

Saturday morning dawned with a little sun to warm up the winter landscape of the North Fork, but that turned to snow later. Michael remembers the boys had come in for a late lunch after a morning of fun.

"We had put a pot on the wood stove to melt snow for water," he said. "The boys went outside to pick up snow chunks for the pot."

Not long after, he remembers the sound - like a freight train - as a huge snow load suddenly let go from the roof. All of the parents were in the house when they heard Gatlin scream.

"Scott and I were to the first to run out," Michael said. "I scooped him up and handed him to Becky."

At the time, he was more concerned for Gatlin, who appeared to be buried deeper in the snow. The two had been standing just a few feet apart under the eaves of the cabin.

Then he remembers hearing Becky's frightened calls. She vividly recalls the moments after Michael pulled Brady free from the huge chunks of ice and snow and she carried him into the cabin.

"I could tell he was having trouble breathing," she said. "His eyes were rolled back in his head."

Gatlin only suffered a scrape under his eye. But Brady's condition appeared critical, so they ran out to summon help by using OnStar in the Bruner family vehicle.

Because of their remote location, the service didn't work. With cell phones equally useless, Michael and Becky raced off with Brady down the bumpy road to Polebridge with the snowfall increasingly heavy.

Neil took off at the same time, hoping to find someone with a connection to 911 emergency service.

"He went to a neighbor who had a cell phone that got out once in a while," Michael said. "He got through."

ALERT was dispatched before the family reached the parking lot at the Polebridge Mercantile. When he later talked to the pilot, Michael learned that the helicopter nearly had to turn back due to heavy snow.

A Forest Service ranger had heard the radio summons for ALERT and arrived at the parking lot with oxygen to keep Brady breathing until the helicopter arrived about 10 minutes later.

Michael still remembers the helicopter landing right next to them, then the crew exiting the helicopter. He said it wasn't like a television show with everyone rushing around and barking orders.

"They walked up and took control," he said. "They were so calm and reassuring."

Stephen Lamb served as the flight nurse. Becky still remembers his gentle words as she despaired about not flying with Brady in the helicopter, wondering if her child would die on the trip.

'He said, 'I'll take care of him like he's my own son," she said.

About an hour and 45 minutes later, Michael and Becky reached the emergency room at Kalispell Regional Medical Center. They learned later that the crew classified Brady's condition as code blue - for dire - during the flight.

The little boy didn't arrive at the hospital a moment too soon.

"The surgeon had to put three tubes into his chest to get his lungs to inflate," Michael said. "If the third one didn't work, they were going to fly him to Seattle."

The blow to Brady's chest collapsed his lungs, broke 11 ribs, his collarbone and three vertebrae. But he got out of the hospital a few days later.

Brady's major complaint was he couldn't get a drink of water in the emergency room. Then there was the doctor's order to skip spring soccer and to stay inside during recess.

"That was annoying," he said.

The surgeon's words about the amazing resilience of children proved prophetic. Brady healed up without any complications.

Later, Michael remembered how his son had noticed helicopters flying around as they drove home past Kalispell City Airport on the Thursday before the weekend accident.

"He had said, 'Wouldn't it be fun to go on a helicopter ride?"

Two days later, Brady was aboard a bright red one, the most beautiful sight that his parents could imagine at that moment.

Becky urges everyone in the community to help keep that ALERT helicopter and crew flying.

"You don't realize how critically important it is until something happens to someone in your family," she said.

Reporter Candace Chase may be reached at 758-4436 or by e-mail at cchase@dailyinterlake.com.