Teen, Who Was Placed in a Coma After Hallucinating and Walking Off a 120-Foot Cliff, Taken Off Ventilator

A California teen, who was placed in a coma after he hallucinated and walked off a cliff while hiking, is breathing on his own, according to his family.

On Thursday, June 26, the father of 14-year-old Zane Wach shared an update on the teen’s health following an incident two weeks ago, in which Zane began experiencing hallucinations due to what doctors believe was altitude sickness.

Zane’s father, Ryan Wach, wrote in a Facebook post shared on the teen’s grandmother Lisa Hinrichsen-Wach’s page that Zane had reached his first “giant milestone” since being placed in a medically induced coma.

“I’ll be brief today as it was a big day but very hard,” Ryan began. “Zane had the breathing tube removed and taken off the [ventilator]. 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.”

“The hard part is that he is well into feeling the effects of withdrawal,” the dad continued. “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. We hope he gets through this with the least possible suffering.”

Ryan previously said he and his 14-year-old son were climbing Mount Whitney in Northern California on June 10 when the incident occurred, according to The Independent and SFGATE.

During their 19-hour hike, Ryan said his son began showing signs of altitude sickness, according to NBC affiliate KSNV. The duo started heading back down the mountain, but things progressively worsened as they continued descending.

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Ryan said his son started feeling “considerably better” about six miles from the trailhead, but his condition worsened about an hour later, and Zane “started to doubt reality.”

A short time later, Ryan said his son thought they had “finished the hike multiple times over,” but they still had not reached the trailhead. 

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

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

Eventually, another group of hikers helped the pair call for help, according to SFGATE and The Independent, but Zane, still experiencing hallucinations, walked off a cliff and fell 120 feet.

“I didn’t see how there would be a way for him to survive it, so I screamed,” Ryan recalled to The Independent. He told the outlet that he quickly raced over to his son after the fall and found him “still breathing.”

Rescue teams arrived about six hours later, and Zane was flown to Southern Inyo Hospital in Lone Pine before being transported to Sunrise Children’s Hospital in Las Vegas, according to SFGATE.

Zane sustained several injuries from 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, but right now we’re still in the middle of it,” Ryan said.

The teen’s family has raised nearly $30,000 through a GoFundMe campaign to support him following the incident.

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