SAN DIEGO (KGTV) -- A San Diego man is recovering from a serious fall while climbing Half Dome in Yosemite Valley.
Alex Doria fell more than 50 feet and broke his back, foot, wrist and ribs.
“You know the weight of my pack, and my foot slipped, and I had a lot of run out in the rope,” Doria said.
He credits his friend Jonathan with taking care of him until Yosemite Search and Rescue came and life-flighted him to a hospital.
"They were absolutely amazing," Doria said.
“One of the more surreal moments I’ve ever had in my life where I really had to consider the possibility that I would be going home without my partner," his girlfriend Jazelyn Hoel said. "And it was shattering."
Doctors told Doria if he had fallen any differently, he would be paralyzed. Amazingly, he is going to make a full recovery, although it will take awhile.
Doria's two sons are too young to fully realize what happened to him, and he says he's thankful.
“Going from like taking off world climbs to like not being able to change my two-year-old's diaper has been a little bit of a nightmare honestly,” Doria said. "But instead of [the doctor] showing me how to wear this [back] brace he could have been showing me how to use my wheelchair.”
A friend set up a GoFundMe to help Doria's family pay medical bills.
