Husband: It’s a miracle wife survived fall from balloon
Published: November 1, 2005
The Phillipsburg woman who fell 50 feet after her leg became entangled in the ropes of a rising hot-air balloon could be moved from intensive care today, according to her husband. Bethlehem Township, N.J., police said Kathleen J. Long, 58, was helping her husband take off in his hot-air balloon Sunday afternoon when her right leg became entangled in two vent ropes. The couple own Flight Fantastic, a balloon-ride business.
The balloon carried Long through tree tops before she hit a tree, became untangled and fell through the roof of a barn on Asbury-West Portal Road, township police said.
Long, of 500 Liberty Blvd., Phillipsburg, was taken to St. Luke’s Hospital, Fountain Hill. A hospital spokeswoman said Monday night she has been upgraded from critical to serious condition.
John Long said his wife of 25 years drifted in and out of consciousness Sunday, but was communicating Monday. If no complications were found during a scheduled MRI Monday, John Long said his wife would be moved from the intensive care unit to a private room today.
“It’s a miracle,” John Long said, adding that his wife doesn’t remember falling through the barn roof. “I don’t think she ever will. That’s a good thing.”
John Long, 55, said his wife broke the left transverse processes — small protruding bones — on her 12 thoracic vertebrae. Besides back injuries and pain, Long said his wife only sustained multiple bruises.
“She’s lucky,” he said.
Kathleen Long was measured for a back brace Monday. Doctors want to see if she can walk with the brace before they discuss releasing her from the hospital, John Long said. With rehabilitation, Long said doctors estimated Kathleen Long “could be back to normal” in two to three months.
Recalling the incident, Long said he was one of about seven balloonists taking off from a field Sunday near the Spain Inn in Hunterdon County. He said a surprise marriage proposal awaited one couple.
Long had no idea something was wrong when the balloon started to climb.
“I heard everybody yelling on the ground ‘No, no, no,’” Long said.
Long looked over the edge of the basket and saw his wife’s right foot 15 feet below the balloon. The balloon was still rising, and Long said strong winds prevented him from returning to the take-off site. Long then aimed for trees so his wife would have something to grab onto and untangle herself.
At first, John Long didn’t know what happened to his wife. He was manning the burners, and didn’t see or hear her fall. He said he knew she became untangled because the loss of her weight caused the balloon to rise straight up in the air.
“I had no idea how far she fell. I was trying to save my flight,” Long said. “If I was alone I would have crashed it (into the trees), without a doubt.”
It would be another 40 minutes until John Long found a landing site in a cornfield near the Mountainview Youth Correctional Facility in Clinton Township. Long communicated with people on the ground via walkie-talkie, so he knew when his wife was taken to St. Luke’s.
Long on Monday said he hadn’t slept since the accident.
“I’ll be all right in a little while,” Long said. “I don’t even want to think about it. Every time I close my eyes I see her foot dangling over the edge of my basket.”
Long said he was so affected by the accident that he didn’t know if he could keep ballooning, something he has done since 1981.
If you enjoyed this good news Subscribe to Good News Blog
Share this
To share this simply copy and paste one of the below URL's: