The Pilot/Jef Hatch

A dramatic multi-agency effort Wednesday succeeded in rescuing a 13-year-old Brookings boy who fell about 85 feet from a high rock at Mill Beach.

Derek Wood, a volunteer with Brookings Fire and Rescue, was the first to reach Bryce Bond, who had multiple broken bones and was sitting in the water of Macklyn Cove as the tide came in.

“He was very scared and distraught,” said Wood, who rappelled down the sheer cliff to assist Bond. “He was extremely worried that he was there alone.”

Wood immediately pulled the boy up so he was out of the water, putting him on a small rocky spot.

“I couldn’t really do anything by myself other than talk to him and try to keep him calm,” Wood said.

 Other personnel from the fire department, Brookings Police Department and Cal-Ore Life Flight held the rope as Wood descended. Then George Wilkinson of Cal-Ore also rappelled down.

Bond had broken his right femur and right ankle in the 3:30 p.m. fall. Wilkinson said the broken leg “was getting thrashed by the waves. The tide coming in terrorized him.”

Wilkinson and Wood did what they could medically, including giving an IV injection, while keeping the boy from falling back into the water.

A U.S. Coast Guard boat was nearby, but couldn’t get far enough into the cove for Bond to be helped aboard. So the Coast Guard station in North Bend sent a helicopter to the site.

Meanwhile, 12-year Curry County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue veteran Joe Martin donned a wetsuit and swam to the Coast Guard boat from shore. He got a Stokes inflatable litter from the boat and towed it to the spot where others were tending to Bond.

Together, they tried to make the frightened teen as comfortable as possible. His leg was bleeding heavily, but once rappellers applied a split they had brought, the bleeding lessened.

Still, it was about an hour’s wait for the helicopter to arrive. When it got there, a Coast Guard rescue swimmer was lowered by cable to the accident site.

Martin said a football-sized rock bounced off the protective helmet he was wearing while the four men huddled with Bond. The helicopter rotors were whipping up dust and rock from the cliff, he said.

A second Stokes litter had to be lowered from the helicopter because the one Martin towed hadn’t been tested for an air lift. Martin and Wilkinson said it required all the strength the four men could muster to lift the litter and place Bond into it.

They wrapped a blanket around his head to protect him from further rockfall, Wilkinson said. He was finally raised to the helicopter at 5:42 p.m. and taken to Brookings Airport. From there, a Cal-Ore flight ambulance took him to Sutter Coast Hospital in Crescent City.

By midnight, Bond and his mother Leanna were flying to Portland, where the boy was admitted at Doernbecher Children’s Hospital. He was in surgery Thursday from 4 a.m. until 11 a.m.

Bryce’s father Jessie and brother Nate drove to Portland, where the Bonds have other family.

Leanna Bond called the rescue “amazing” and thanked everyone involved.

She said doctors had put a rod in Bryce’s femur, but his ankle – broken in three places – will be evaluated again Sunday. It might be two to three weeks before doctors can operate on the ankle, she said, because some initial healing must occur.

Bryce originally was in the Intensive Care Unit due to a slight skull fracture, but was moved from there Thursday night when doctors felt it was not as serious as earlier feared.

The boy also suffered a broken wrist, a scrape under his lip and a cut on his chin. He was listed in fair condition late Friday afternoon.

“He’s OK,” Leanna Bond said. “He’s more bummed about having been there (Mill Beach) because we told him not to go there.”

She watched from the beach as rescuers performed their work Wednesday, wrapped in a blanket against the chilly late afternoon temperature. She said her son “has no fear” when it comes to things like climbing rocks.

Bond was with brother Nate, 10, and friends Dominick Rogers, 11, and John Thompson, 13, during the outing. All four scaled the steep rock and headed west with Bond in the lead.

Suddenly they heard him scream and begin calling for help. Rogers called 911 on a cell phone before the three returned to the beach unharmed.

Brookings Fire and Rescue Assistant Chief Jim Watson said everyone involved in the rescue deserves a pat on the back.

“It was a great combined effort,” he said.

Cal-Ore’s Wilkinson said Martin, who swam to the boy, “was a real stud. He helped a lot.”

However, Martin deflected the praise, saying the three other rescuers who joined him with Bond were the real heroes because they spent lots of time in the frigid water without a wetsuit, which he wore.

Martin said he’s a longtime surfer who is at home in the water, so his swim to the boy wasn’t scary. Likewise, Wood of the Search and Rescue crew downplayed the danger of his rappel.

“I’ve done it here and there, but it’s not something I do all the time,” he said. “I like climbing, so it was exciting for me.”

He said that, as the tide came in, the rescuers were a little more than waist deep in water and waves were crashing over Bond.

Wood said there just wasn’t time to be frightened as they scurried to reach the injured boy.

“At the time, it was just, ‘Get down to him,’” he said. “The key thing was to get to him. Everybody did a great job.”

Two financial funds have been established to help the family defray medical costs. A friend said they have no insurance.

Donations are being taken at Reflections Beauty Salon, 434 Redwood St., where Leanna Bond is a hair stylist.

Donations also can be made at Chetco Federal Credit Union outlets. Those who want to contribute may do so by informing a teller they want to give to the Bryce Bond account.