A woman in Trondheim had some bad luck while out skiing in the local hills of Bymarka last week. She lost control on a steep downhill, collided with another skier and badly broke her ankle, but then her luck turned almost miraculously for the better.
The story Lisa Pedersen Rånes could tell local newspaper Adresseavisen was almost too good to be true, but it was: Rånes collided with a doctor specializing in radiology, and he not only wasn’t injured himself but was able to stabilize Rånes and offer her expert first aid while also calling for an ambulance.
Then another skier came along, and he turned out to also be a doctor, specializing in orthopedics. With lots of experience in setting broken bones, he joined the first aid efforts. Then a third skier stopped to help, who also turned out to be a surgeon at Trondheim’s St Olavs Hospital.
Despite Rånes pain, both she and the three doctors suddenly surrounding here were soon able to joke about the situation. From her hospital bed a few days later, Rånes could tell Adresseavisen that the surgeon told her that “I don’t have my equipment with me out here, otherwise I could just operate.”
The doctors kept Rånes warm in the midst of a snowstorm until an ambulance crew arrived. Many others out skiing on Bymarka’s floodlit trails on a Tuesday evening after work also stopped to offer assistance, including a woman who immediately took off and turned over her down vest to aid the efforts to keep Rånes warm.
Rånes was taken to St Olavs Hospital, where her orthopedic rescuer operated on her ankle the next day. “Everyone was just fantastic,” Rånes told Adresseavisen. “If an accident like that has to happen, it couldn’t have been at a better time or place.”
newsinenglish.no/Nina Berglund
