Cliff Fall Survivor Says He's Glad He Fell

By By Mark Miller Published: Jul 29, 2005 at 9:52 PM PDT Last Updated: Aug 31, 2006 at 2:01 AM PDT
Cliff Fall Survivor Says He's Glad He Fell
SNOHOMISH COUNTY - He should be dead, and he knows it. He also knows it's all his fault.

"Everybody does stupid things, but they don't always get a chance to learn from them," says Steven Graham, 22. "I don't look at this as a bad thing."

Graham's body is badly broken, and you might wonder about his mind. Believe it or not, he says falling off a cliff is probably one of the best things that's happened to him.

The Everett man just got out of the hospital after surviving a catastrophic tumble off a sheer wall near Snoqualmie Pass. Graham was with a group of friends Sunday, July 24 when his buddies told him the wall would be impossible to climb. Graham decided to try and prove them wrong.

"It was probably a 10 second fall, but it felt like half a lifetime," he remembers.

Graham's friends told KOMO 4 News he looked like a cartoon character, bouncing head-over-heels down the nearly vertical rock wall. The assistant loan officer broke his ankle, bruised much of his body, and suffered severe lacerations on his head, torso, buttocks and hand.

"You know how they say your life flashes before your eyes? No, not with me. Everything slowed down and I could see it all, just my body flipping around, hitting things. I kept waiting for the screen to go blank, but it never did," he explains.

You can question the young man's judgment, but you cannot question his attitude. Graham exudes positive energy, and he's not about to let a near-death experience change his outlook on life.

"When you live through a 100 foot fall, you have to think the Good Lord wants you around for a reason. This is a chance to examine my life, to improve myself. It's really a positive."

Graham says he has a renewed sense of the value of friendship: his buddies administered first aid and are credited with stabilizing him before rescue crews arrived.

He also values the goodness of strangers: the mountain search and rescue people and helicopter pilots who took a risk to get him to a hospital.

Graham also appreciates everything his brother is doing to help take care of him at his home in Everett.

Unfortunately, Graham does not have medical insurance and the bill from the multiple surgeries and five-day hospital stay will probably exceed $100,000. Friends have set up a fund at Boeing Employees Credit Union to give their pal a hand. They think he deserves it.