March• 2019 | 51READER’S DIGEST
THE WRITE STUFFCorrect punctuation: the difference between
a sentence that’s well-written and
a sentence that’s, well, written. JUSTBADPUNS.COMquestionsaboutherinjuries,all
Poitrascouldthinkaboutwasthe
dogs.“Theyhavetogofirst,”shetold
Pyne, who grinned but shook his
head. Poitras was so cold and dehy-
drated that paramedics couldn’t find
apulse.“I’mstillalive,”sheassured
them weakly.
A second team of rescuers arrived to
assist a helicopter in extracting Poitras
and her charges. She was loaded onto
a spine board and secured with web-
bing and straps. Before a technician
clipped her board to the cable that
would draw her up out of the forest,
Poitras looked at Pyne. “Sorry if my
breath smells!” she said, to laughter
from the group. She’d been found
deep in the bush, a kilometre and a
half from where she’d fallen.
At a nearby golf club, which had
been turned into the SAR command
centre, Marcel sat surrounded by
members of his extended family
who’d come to offer support. A police
officer walked up to him and quietly
took him aside. As Marcel listened to
the officer tell him his wife was alive,
he began to cry, flashing a thumbs
up to the expectant group. “It was
instant relief,” he says. “All of my dark
thoughts disappeared.”
The crowd at the command centre
cheered as rescuers carried Poitras
from the helicopter and into a wait-
ing ambulance. After Pyne unclipped
himself and the three dogs from his
harness, he handed the pets off to
their respective owners. He paused
to take in the jubilant mood, watch-
ing volunteers and family members
exchanging hugs.IT TOOK FOUR DAYSin the hospital
before Poitras could walk again. Her
musclesweredamagedfromherfall,
andherveinshadcollapsedfrom
dehydration. Poitras didn’t know
untilaftertherescuethatshe’dbeen
foundlessthan200metresfroma
stream.Andshedidn’tknowthat
she’dbeenlostincougarcountry.
A month and a half later, in early
January, Poitras was strong enough to
take the dogs out onto the trail. She
didn’t go far, and she brought a friend
along. These days, though, she’s walk-
ing alone again. “I’m back at the
mountains,” she says. “But I don’t go
to where I was rescued.” Poitras still
has nightmares about the ordeal, but
walking helps distract her from what
happened. “It’s nice to see the dogs
running around,” she says.