Teen Placed In Coma After Hallucinating and Walking Off 120-Foot Cliff Now Breathing on His Own

On Thursday, June 26, the father of 14-year-old Zane Wach shared a significant update on his son’s recovery. Zane had been hiking Mount Whitney in Northern California with his dad on June 10 when he began hallucinating, likely due to altitude sickness, and walked off a cliff. He was critically injured and later placed into a coma.

In a Facebook update reportedly posted to the page of Zane’s grandmother, Lisa Hinrichsen-Wach, Zane’s father, Ryan Wach, called the latest development a “giant milestone.”

“Zane had the breathing tube removed and taken off the [ventilator],” Ryan wrote. “This was a giant milestone and opens the door to many new steps forward. He’s not doing much else at the moment, the largest focus is watching closely so that he does well breathing on his own as well and being able to cough and swallow.”

Ryan reportedly added that while things are looking up, Zane is now facing a new battle: withdrawal symptoms from medications administered during his coma.

“He’s been on a lot of heavy drugs for a while and getting off those is extremely hard and painful. As parents, it’s terrible to watch,” Ryan wrote. “We hope he gets through this with the least possible suffering.”

His update, however, no longer appeared on her Facebook page.

The terrifying incident occurred during a 19-hour hike on Mount Whitney — which sits at the second tallest peak in the U.S. at 14,505 feet. Ryan previously told The Independent, SFGATE and Las Vegas NBC affiliate KSNV, that Zane began showing signs of altitude sickness during their descent.

About six miles from the trailhead, Zane seemed to be improving, but soon after, things took a frightening turn.

“He started to doubt reality,” Ryan recalled, telling SFGATE that Zane believed they had “finished the hike multiple times over,” despite still being far from their endpoint.

“He started to experience some hallucinations,” Ryan said. “He knew he was hallucinating. He said he saw things like snowmen and Kermit the Frog.”

Zane also confessed to his dad that he couldn’t tell what was real.

“He told me he couldn’t tell if he was dreaming or not,” Ryan recalled. “And he would shake his head in disbelief, like, ‘This is not real.’ Like he was in the movie Inception or something.”

Luckily for Ryan, another group of hikers helped them call for assistance. But before rescue crews arrived, Zane, still hallucinating, walked off the edge of a cliff, falling 120 feet.

“I didn’t see how there would be a way for him to survive it, so I screamed,” Ryan told The Independent. Miraculously, when he reached his son’s side, Zane was “still breathing.”

Zane was first airlifted to Southern Inyo Hospital in Lone Pine, then transferred to Sunrise Children’s Hospital in Las Vegas. He sustained multiple injuries in the fall, including head trauma, a broken ankle, a broken finger, and a partially broken pelvis.

“It’s going to be a survival story in the end,” Ryan said. “But right now we’re still in the middle of it.”

A GoFundMe launched by family friend Heather Riggen has raised nearly $30,000 to support Zane’s recovery.

“We believe in the power of community to lift each other up, and we thank you for your prayers and support,” Riggen wrote. “Together we are stronger. Team Zane all the way! We believe in you, buddy; continue to fight.”