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Steelhead angler survives fall into Brule River and a heart attack
Sam Cook Duluth News Tribune
Published Saturday, April 19, 2008

Wes Burling had forgotten all about steelhead fishing for the moment. All he could think about was getting out of the frigid river.

He already had been in the 45-degree water for several minutes, sometimes rolling under the surface in his water-logged chest waders. Now, if he could just grab that sapling above the ice shelf, maybe he could pull himself free of the current.

Wes Burling, 82, of Cumberland, Wis., jokes with his son, Brad, as Wes recounts his near-drowning on the Brule River. The elder Burling, a steelhead angler, spent about half an hour in the cold river before being rescued Tuesday afternoon.

Burling, a month shy of 83, had been fishing alone late Tuesday afternoon on Wisconsin's Brule River. He had slipped down a muddy bank and plunged into the rising river near the Copper Range Campground.

Burling "conservatively estimated" he spent 35 minutes in the cold current before being rescued by a passing angler. He was flown to Duluth's St. Luke's hospital by helicopter that evening. Doctors were treating him for hypothermia when he suffered a mild heart attack, said Dr. David Sproat of Duluth Internal Medicine Associates.

But Friday, Burling was resting comfortably in his room at

St. Luke's, awaiting discharge so he could return to his home in Cumberland, Wis.

"I'm too ornery to die," Burling said.

Understand, the man knows adversity. Since his early 50s, according to his family's accounts, he has had two triple-bypass heart surgeries, six heart attacks (including Tuesday's), three strokes, carotid artery surgery and surgery for colon cancer. His son, Brad Burling, 45, was sitting with him at St. Luke's on Friday.

"Ever since I can remember," Brad said, "I've been chasing the ambulance down to the hospital or calling 911."

In his blue and white hospital gown, the affable Burling recounted his harrowing day on the Brule, where he has fished for steelhead for 63 years. The river was rising with snowmelt Tuesday afternoon. Ice shelves still clung to the banks in many places. Not many anglers were out.

After rolling and tumbling in the current for perhaps 100 yards, Burling managed to grab that sapling on shore. It broke. He was bobbing in the icy water again.

"My waders were just lead," Burling said. "I went under water several times. I was swallowing a lot of water."

He was wearing 5-millimeter neoprene waders and a combination life preserver/ fishing vest. He estimates he was in the water for half an hour, trying to reach shore, before he was able to grab a sturdy streamside alder. His hands were now too numb to be useful. He managed to throw one arm over an alder branch and jam his wading staff into the river bottom.

Then, he waited.

"I really had given up," said Burling, a stout man with gray stubble atop his head. "No. Not really given up, but I didn't think I was going to get any help. I knew hypothermia was going to do me in. I was starting to shiver."

About five minutes later, he heard a voice. Improbably, a man and a boy were coming downriver in a small, flat-bottomed boat. The man was 58-year-old John Theisen of Brule.

Theisen shouted over the noise of the river at Burling.

"I'm in trouble," Burling blurted.

Theisen took action.

"That was all he needed," Burling said. "Bang - he came right then. He hauled me out of there like a wheat sack. Man, was he strong."

Not that easily.

"I tried to pull him up the ice shelf," Theisen said, "but I couldn't do it. So I got in the water and said, 'On the count of three, I'm going to hoist you up.'"

Once on dry ground, Theisen made Burling comfortable and went for help. Members of the Brule Fire Department carried Burling along shore to a waiting ambulance. The ambulance transferred him to the fire department's landing zone, where the emergency helicopter landed.

Burling's core temperature upon reaching St. Luke's Hospital was 91.4 degrees Fahrenheit, Sproat said.

"We call that relatively mild [hypothermia]," Sproat said, "although in an 82-year-old guy with a bad heart, that makes a difference."

Burling recovered from the hypothermia, and the stress triggered a mild heart attack, Sproat said. Burling took this incident seriously but said he's been in tougher shape with heart problems in the past.

"They've used the pads [emergency defibrillators] on me a couple times," Burling said. "Even when I'm gone, they bring me back."

"It's just unreal," said his daughter-in-law Kristin Burling of Cumberland. "He should be dead. I'm just amazed he's even alive."

"This last one, I say it was a guardian angel," said Burling's wife, Patricia. "If [Theisen] hadn't come along, Wes wouldn't be here."

Burling, too, is deeply appreciative of the care he's received in the wake of his unplanned swim.

"I can't say enough about John [Theisen] and the hospital staff," he said.

His future as a steelheader is under a cloud of doubt at the moment.

"I told him, 'OK, this is it. You're done trout fishing,'" Patricia Burling said.

Burling has conceded the spring steelhead season. But by the fall season, he figures he'll be ready.

He is, however, beginning to wonder how long his good fortune will hold out.

"I don't know how many lives I have left," he said. "I'm going to start being more careful."

fark yeah! This guy is awesome.

hell, if he has sperm that is still working, we should take it and start a race of superhumans

IrateShadow

not sure what that pic has to do with the story but...

awesome. simply awesome.

IrateShadow

Please someone slap a "Skeet Skeet" caption on that

He's just looking for Sarah Connor.

He's too horney to die?
Que?

Speaking from experience, swamped chest waders are very dangerous. This guy is an animal. Good find, subby.

/loves me the steelhead fishing

Sorry for the threadjack but will someone help me out. I'm trying to post an awesome picture of my cat and am having some problems. I read the FAQ already. I put the url in the comment box, highlight and hit picture. Well it's not an image url. So how do i get my picture in an image url (it's in a myspace photo album)

/mods be gentle on me, i'm new at commenting
//been a farker for years, a commenter for 2 days

Somebody clone that guy.

ModernPrimitive01: Sorry for the threadjack but will someone help me out. I'm trying to post an awesome picture of my cat and am having some problems. I read the FAQ already. I put the url in the comment box, highlight and hit picture. Well it's not an image url. So how do i get my picture in an image url (it's in a myspace photo album)

/mods be gentle on me, i'm new at commenting
//been a farker for years, a commenter for 2 days

Go back and read it again.
Then come back here and teach me.

This guy has em..

HeadLever: Good find, subby.

You bet.
Thanks

Found on his chest, written in stitches:

"I've had six heart attacks and two triple-bypasses and all I got were these lousy sutures."

/He's just playing with you

Those Norske's are something else. The one's that don't go snow bird for retirement & stick around the great white North year round are a hearty breed.

phatface: ModernPrimitive01: Sorry for the threadjack but will someone help me out. I'm trying to post an awesome picture of my cat and am having some problems. I read the FAQ already. I put the url in the comment box, highlight and hit picture. Well it's not an image url. So how do i get my picture in an image url (it's in a myspace photo album)

/mods be gentle on me, i'm new at commenting
//been a farker for years, a commenter for 2 days

Go back and read it again.
Then come back here and teach me.

I would go to your myspace page, get your picture on the screen, right click on the pic, left click on Properties, select and copy the address listed for the pic.

Now, go to the Fark insert comment. Left click on the Image button. Select and delete with backspace all the crap between the quotes. Then paste your pic URL you copied from myspace pic. Then you know the rest.

So was he using dry-fly or wet? Nymphs, perhaps?

There really is such a thing as being too *stupid* to die, or at least that is what my brother maintains after some of my misadventures such as this:





I still haven't a patch on that guy though.

Mark my words, mark them well:

Catfish Hunter will be the end of him. He is the end of all things.

Since his early 50s, according to his family's accounts, he has had two triple-bypass heart surgeries, six heart attacks (including Tuesday's), three strokes, carotid artery surgery and surgery for colon cancer.

That's hard core.

TheShavingofOccam123,

I for one welcome my new fark benfactor

Doctors were treating him for hypothermia when he suffered a mild heart attack

Dude is hardcore, but subby got it wrong unless the doctors were in the water with him...

/color me impressed

Since his early 50s, according to his family's accounts, he has had two triple-bypass heart surgeries, six heart attacks (including Tuesday's), three strokes, carotid artery surgery and surgery for colon cancer.
--------------------------

DAAAAAAMN. The fact he can still even get out of bed in the morning shows he's tough as nails.

Let me tell you something, Johnny. Every morning I wake up and smoke a cig. and I eat 5 strips of BACON!...
For lunch a bacon sandwich...and for a mid-day snack BACON!! A whole damn plate.

/I couldn't find a shot from Grumpier Old Men. :(

But did you catch any fish??

medulla oblongata

I, for one, am staying off his lawn.

Cue the Obamamaniacs to mock him for being old.

glassa: Cue the Obamamaniacs to mock him for being old.

Not this.

I liked his understatement of the year: "I'm going to start being more careful."

Dear subby: if you want you use Fark memes, please do it in a correct way. For example:

Not news:"I'm too ornery to die" says 83 year old fisherman. News: after surviving two triple-bypass heart surgeries and six heart attacks. Fark: heart attack #6 was while he was in icy river for 35 minutes.

Rasputin is impressed.

Wes has got an outer layer of protein polysaccharides. A lot of Amino Acids for prolonged reistance to adverse environmental conditions. Interesting combination of elements making Wes one tough little son-of- a-biatch...

Even Dick Cheney is impressed with this guy.

ModernPrimitive01: TheShavingofOccam123,

I for one welcome my new fark benfactor

You're welcome. Caturday FTW!

Is it just me or is every generation starting with the baby boomers and onwards are just a bunch of pussies. And if it wasn't for the fact that old folks are too busy surviving heart attacks while floating around in freezing water; they would kick all our asses and take over the country.

At first glance the guy on the left looked like K-Fed.

Someone this guy is controlling the reapers.

BobtheFascist: Those Norske's are something else. The one's that don't go snow bird for retirement & stick around the great white North year round are a hearty breed.

Damn straight we are!

/not that tough
//not even close

Get off his boat!

remember, too, he was fishing for steelhead. they are bigger and make the average 11-inch trout seem like you're fighting a sucker or a fall fish. it's impressive that a senior citizen of his age is fighting and landing them to begin with.

glassa: Cue the Obamamaniacs to mock him for being old.

2/10. I've seen worse, but points off because this guy would probably kick your ass for bringing that crap into his thread.

The man's like an almost-Wolverine. I imagine that his lawn must be *pristine.*

glassa: Cue the Obamamaniacs to mock him for being old.

Cue the pussies who cant find anything wrong with Obama and go around making shiat up...Bitter much?

prickle27: And if it wasn't for the fact that old folks are too busy surviving heart attacks while floating around in freezing water; they would kick all our asses and take over the country.

Old folks already had a turn at running the country. Unfortunately, most of them are too busy dieing of heart attacks and breaking their hips in the bathtub to do so these days. Sad but true, and we're all going to be in the same situation some day.

Damn, I need a drink now.

He surely has the heart of Mike Ditka to survive so many heart attacks...