An Edmonton woman is indebted to her dog for flagging down help after she fell down a 50-foot embankment while the pair was out for a walk in the river valley earlier this week.
Maia Stock, 24, and her dog Brady were walking along a path in the Riverdale neighbourhood Wednesday, near Cameron Avenue and 94 Street. She stopped to take a picture and when she did, the ground gave way.
“I just fell all the way down — head over heels and just tumbled down. I just remember thinking, ‘I’m going to hit the water,'” Stock said as she recalled the frightening ordeal on Friday morning.
“I was terrified just tumbling down … When I came to, I realized how far down I was and I couldn’t get back up. I just started panicking I was so scared.”
Stock admits this isn’t the first time she’s fallen down the embankment. The last time, she ended up in the water. Thankfully, a friend helped her out.
Luckily, this time, Stock came to a stop on the ground before she hit the water. But after realizing she wasn’t going to be able to help herself out of the situation, she panicked and started to cry. Then she called her mom.
“She was obviously distraught so I was trying to figure out where she was and I couldn’t quite figure it out. I was trying to calm her down,” her mother, Barb Wilkinson, said.
While this was going on, Stock had no idea what was happening above her, but Brady began to bark and run in circles. Eventually, he caught the attention of a couple of people walking by and drew them over to where his owner had fallen.
The pair called 911 and emergency crews arrived to help. The firefighters went down on ropes, secured her in a basket and hoisted her back to safety. She was taken to hospital where she was treated and released several hours later. Stock twisted her ankle and suffered a concussion, but she is grateful she wasn’t more badly injured.
“I woke up really woozy and dizzy and off, and my head really hurt. I’m sore all over — my back and especially my sides,” Stock said. “It could have been a lot worse… I don’t know how I didn’t break any bones.”
Her parents are just as thankful their daughter was okay. They’re also appreciative of the people who stopped to help when they heard Brady.
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“It was wonderful that they would stop and help and stayed until the rescue people were here. They really went out of their way to help her,” Wilkinson said. “When I came and found her the other day and looked down, I think it’s a miracle that she wasn’t hurt worse and she’s doing as well as she is.”
“It’s just amazing that she didn’t get hurt more, considering it’s about a 50-foot straight drop that she fell down,” said her father, Curtis Stock.
The entire family is equally, if not more, thankful for Brady. They don’t know what might have happened if it weren’t for him.
“He’s my boy, my baby!” Stock said. “I was so impressed. I always wondered what he would do if something like that happened. Now I know he’d help me out. I’m in awe of him. I’m just amazed at how he did that.”
“Brady got her help a lot faster. I don’t know how long it would have taken me to find her if Brady hadn’t gotten her help so quickly,” Wilkinson said. “A little 12-pound hero.”
“It’s hard to believe. The dog was amazing — something like Lassie or the Littlest Hobo the way he went and got help and barked and herded the people over,” said Curtis Stock.
Signs have since been put up along the trail warning people of unsafe conditions.
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