York woman falls nine feet down Aysgarth Falls near Richmond

Skye Harrison, from Heworth, had been enjoying her Bank Holiday Monday (May 25) by taking a hike at the North Yorkshire beauty spot, near Richmond, when she slipped and fell about nine feet into the falls – landing on her spine.

Friends rushed to help the 22-year-old at the bottom of the waterfall, lifting her head away from the cascading water and keeping her still on the advice of the Swaledale Mountain Rescue Team, who subsequently rescued Skye.

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“I was amazed I hadn’t died. I thought I was paralysed,” Skye said.

The 22-year-old health care worker said she thought she had been paralysed from her nine foot fall onto a rock (Image: Supplied)

“I had been at the top and slipped, falling on my back,” said Skye.

“I was lying on the rock that I’d landed on for about half an hour for the rescue team.

“I cannot thank them enough. They got here so quickly, and they saved my life.”

More than 50 members of the search and rescue team, firefighters and paramedics had helped lift her to safety (Image: Swaledale Mountain Rescue Team)

Skye, who went to Archbishop Holgate’s CE School in the city, was aided by more than 50 members of the rescue team and crews from North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service, who used ropes and a fire service ladder to hoist her up to safety.

She was then taken to York Hospital where she was told she would have to learn to walk again after fracturing the lumbar region of her spine in two places.

Skye, who works in the care service, said: “I need daily physio and further treatment to be able to walk again.

“Doctors say I could be in hospital for up to six weeks.

“I wore a back brace for a minute to attempt to move for the first time on Monday and it was so painful.”

Syke was taken to York Hospital where she was told she would have to learn to walk again following two lumbar fractures (Image: Swaledale Mountain Rescue Team)

Despite her pain, Skye says she feels “incredibly lucky” to be alive.

In a social media post, she said: “The rescue team absolutely saved my life in what was the scariest moment I have ever faced.

“I’m so lucky to be here now with only a spinal injury. A long road of recovery but I’m determined to get to where I need to be.”

‘I’m so lucky to be here now’

She thanked her friends, loved ones and the community for their support and has signposted people to a fundraiser for the Swaledale Mountain Rescue Team.

The non-profit organisation works around the clock, seven days a week, across the Pennine Way and Coast to Coast Walk in search and rescue mission above and below ground.

Its team of 40, all of whom are volunteers, is funded entirely through donations.

You can support them by visiting the link here.