Irie's recovery fund

Irie went jogging with a friend at San Lorenzo Valley High School at 7am December 18th. They parted ways at 7:45...around 11:30 am Corina called me at work feeling something was wrong. I called the hospital immediately. Corina and Sequoyah(Irie's little brother) went looking for her on felton emprire and then slv hs and fall Creek. After no luck in their search I added a service called family locater on her cell phone. I was not able to pin point her since she had not downloaded the app but was able to see her phone was within 2 miles of a cell tower in Ben Lomond. I told Corina to go to the sheriff's office in felton to see if they could convince our cell provider to pin point her location. There was only a volunteer there and he was no able to help but was very kind to Corina. Meanwhile our boy and good friend Christina searched Felton Empire up and down. I was on the road racing back from San Jose when Christina called me and told me my son noticed a freshly broken branch. He jumped down the Ravine and 50 feet down e saw a redwood tree with a scuff and kept going down. He found a piece of the truck and yelled up to Christina. She called 911. Luckily our boy was able to flag down a CDF Calfire Crew on their way home from a day of work. The Chief(working his last day of a 28 year career) and the inmate Crew went straight down the Ravine. My son pointed out the evidence and the Chief agreed and kept going down. I arrived with Corina and they still had not located Irie. As the four of us huddled together at the top 5 or ten minutes they located the truck over 300 feet straight down but Irie ws not in the truck. A minute later they saw Irie and radioed up but could not confirm if she was breathing. When they finally made it to her they said she was awake and able to move her feet. At this point I felt a massive sense of hope, the distance and steepness of the fall was so much that it seemed a miracle to get this news. The first responders frm the 911 call were still not on site. When they showed up it took another 1 1/2 hours to get Irie up the Ravine. 10 firefighters and several prisoners pulled a rope attached to a basket while another 8 or so heroic men with gang tattoos and orange suits carried the basket up. We are truly blessed these fine men were so fearless and worked together with everything they had to get our baby ou of the darkness. It had started raining about 15-20 minutes before they reached the top. Her amazing little brother was a true hero to be so perseptive to see the smallest detail and follow his instincts.

Irie has a cracked skull and some Brain trauma. She can move her feet and arms and respond to questions. She has several fractures in her Spine and a broken collar bone, bruised lung and bruises all over her body. So far they do not need to perform surgery on her brain injury. They are monitoring her vitals and swelling. I will try to update when we know more. We feel so lucky to be with our sweet sweet girl right now. Christina you are amazing we love you so much for everything you do and all you love you were such a big part of the rescue of our daughter.

Thanks to all of you and your friends for the overwhelming love and support.  Signs of improvement are there. Irie knows her name and her birthday when asked. Sometimes she gets the year mixed up but that seems to be when the wake her up to ask her questions. Still no need for brain surgery. We are far from out of the woods here but slowly the positives are mounting and our hope grows stronger. We appreciate all the love and support we are receiving. Corina and I were able to leave the hospital this morning with a hand off. We needed some time to cry and rest. If you don't know where she went over you can imagine that as we stood on top of that cliff my hopes were limited to I hope she didn't suffer, I hope it was quick trying to hold space for the miracle for my family but there is no way anyone survives that fall. Now we can breath and reflect with true hope in sight. It was not her time this I know for sure.  I do believe we are all connected in a sacred special and unexplainable way. Each of you have touched lives. It took me hours to read all of your kindness mostly because I could not see past the tears. My life is very different today, I have seen a miracle first hand and it brought our baby back to us. The miracle is my son Ona Sequoyah shade Stewart, our dear friend Christina, the CDF Cal Fire Chief who was serving his final day of a 28 year career, his men a crew of Misfit's bangers and criminals who have taken their second chance at life and delivered my family a second chance, the firefighters at Bonny Doon, Felton and Ben Lomond, the EMT paramedics and nurses, doctors and all of you. 2 people have died going over that same cliff in the last 25 years. I am thinking of funding a guard rail and dedicating it to the amazing rescue workers. Thanks again for the out poor of love and support.