‘Godspeed and Thank You:’ In Remote Wreck, Benefis Mercy Flight and Trauma Team Saves Life

Chris Rager Photo courtesy of Chris Rager After a lifetime of hair-raising adventures around the world, Chris Rager nearly met his end just a few hundred yards from his home. Chris, founder of Flying Arrow Archery, was following his girlfriend home on an August 2024 evening. He pulled over to finish a phone call with a friend since he knew he would shortly lose service on the rural road between Denton and Lewistown. He doesn’t remember much after that. Something sent his Jeep off the gravel road and hurling down a steep slope. He is a diligent wearer of his seatbelt, but he was ejected through the roof. The Jeep landed on him, shattering his pelvis. Part of the suspension drove steel through his sternum, stopping a quarter of an inch from his spine and heart and bruising his lung. His head was cracked and part of his skull visible, his spine broken, his nerves damaged, his spleen severed, and his ribs popped out of place. When found, he was just conscious enough to try to push his stomach and intestines back into his body. Chris’ girlfriend, daughter, and son-in-law scrambled to get him help, recognizing an ambulance wouldn’t be fast enough. “Thank goodness” Benefis Mercy Flight already was in the air on the way to Havre, Chris said. The team diverted to the accident site and arrived at about the same time as the Lewistown and Denton fire departments. “Mercy Flight saved my life. Had it not been for that helicopter and the team aboard, I wouldn’t be here,” he said. “Tell them, ‘Godspeed and thank you so much.’” Mercy Flight landed in a field with local EMS and law enforcement communication from the ground, and the firefighters loaded Chris onto a cattle feed truck to deliver him to the helicopter. He was cool to the touch and difficult to rouse. His pulse was weak. Flight nurse Wade Wagoner and flight paramedic Chris McCormick took over Chris’ care. They notified Benefis to prepare for a Level I trauma. “Those decisions they made saved my life. I was on the border of going,” Chris said. “They did everything right on that 35-minute flight to Benefis,” Chris said. Two surgeons and their teams were ready for Chris when the helicopter landed. One worked on him from the waist up and another tackled the trauma from the waist down. “They got me off the helicopter, onto a table, and put back together in two or three hours,” Chris said. “I can’t believe how efficiently everything went.” Chris was in a medically induced coma for the next five days. He woke to find his mom at his side, and she explained what happened, though he “couldn’t make heads or tails of anything. I don’t remember anything. It was just horrible, horrible things.” “Every single doctor, nurse, physical therapist, and other person I worked with at Benefis was a 100 on a scale of 1-10. It was the best care I’ve ever had in my life,” Chris said. After six weeks in the hospital stabilizing and beginning to heal, Chris was able to return home, knowing he would need further surgery. After three weeks at home, his right arm started joining his left in useless numbness. He called a buddy who raced to get him and take him to the hospital. He had surgery the next morning on five vertebrae in his neck followed by another three and a half weeks of recuperation in the hospital. He continues to heal. “It was a hell of a deal, but they got me bolted back together. Everyone who sees me is amazed at how well I’m doing,” he said. “I was truly blessed to have all the people at Benefis working on me. Being in the hospital is hard, but they made it the best experience you could have. They were very thorough at everything they did and saved my life.” Chris looks forward to getting healthy enough to get back outside enjoying nature. His goal is to be ready by hunting season. Throughout his life, when people questioned Chris about his adventures – hunting crocodiles in Africa, hanging off cliffs while backpacking, etc. – he would say he had a 60-year plan and everything else would be a bonus. He was 59 on that fateful day of his wreck. “I just about called it,” he said. “I thought everything past 60 would be bonus time, and now I get to figure out what to do with the next 35 years.” Chris Rager Photo courtesy of Chris Rager