Miraculous Rescue: A Motorcyclist's Last Message to Family

Kevin Dippenbrock was sure he was going to die. The 41-year-old motorcyclist set out for a ride with a friend. In the middle of the ride, his friend accidentally hit the brakes, and both motorcycles collided. The impact hurled them over the dirt embankment at the road's edge. His friend, Philip Polito, died on the spot. Dippenbrock sustained severe injuries: fractures in his spine and ribs, and punctured lungs.

Dippenbrock tried to call for help, but the cars speeding by on the highway couldn't hear, and the dirt embankment concealed the wreckage. He attempted to call his family, but there was no cell reception. Adding a status update to his Facebook page also failed. "I tried to move, to pull myself into a spot where someone could see me," he says. "But by that point, the pain was too intense, and when I tried to move, I passed out."

Even when he regained consciousness, help did not come. He began to believe he was going to die and started filming farewell messages for his family and friends. "Hey everyone," he recorded. "I made a mistake, that's all I can say. It happened around ten-thirty in the morning. I've been lying here since, about 17 meters from the road. I just wanted to say I love you. Sorry I was foolish..." He continued, telling his parents he loved them and asked that someone take care of his puppies.

For 27 hours, Dippenbrock lay beneath the road. Periodically, he recorded additional farewell messages. His last recorded message was: "It's been a while, no one has come. I can't reach anyone. Love you," and then his battery died.

"Then I thought to myself: this is the end," Dippenbrock says.

Then, as he closed his eyes, waiting for death, a miracle occurred.

The rescue operation began when a couple in a car stopped so the woman could go out to buy a drink. She got out of the vehicle and heard Dippenbrock groaning. She alerted her partner, and they both peeked over the road's edge but saw nothing. They returned to their car and brought reinforcements: a nearby camera store employee named Joshua Johnson. Johnson carefully approached the road's edge, and only then did he see Dippenbrock down below. "Josh slid down," Dippenbrock says. "I just remember this guy, with a full helmet, coming to me, grabbing my hand, and saying: 'Everything will be alright, and we're going to get you out of here.' He said he'd call my family and get help."

A rescue helicopter did indeed succeed in extracting Dippenbrock and rushed him to a hospital. Johnson frequently visits him there, as does the family for whom he recorded his farewell messages.

"Never forget to tell people you love them," Dippenbrock says. "That's all I could think about while lying there—that I hadn't said it enough. That I hadn't visited my parents enough. That I hadn't spent enough time with the people dear to me."