HotmailRescuers, kin recall Calif. rescue ahead of storm
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 The last roll Nov. 27: Parsons, Kansas, is place that still processes Kodachrome color film, but Kodak has stopped making it, leaving this little town pondering a big question. NBC’s Bob Dotson reports. |
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The family had to be flown out in two trips, but Ward was able to tell from looking at the group that they were in pretty good shape. Once delivered to a hospital, they were found to be suffering from mild hypothermia. Their aunt, Wendy Wilson, told Vieira from Paradise that Alexis and Josh had some minor frostbite on their toes, but reported that all were resting and well.
“Surprisingly, they are doing amazing,” she said. “They just need a little rest and some food.”
Wilson and other family members had stayed with Sams, the children’s mother, at her home while the search went on, hoping and praying that all would be found in the snow-covered mountains.
“The waiting, the not knowing — it was crazy,” she said. “We just didn’t understand how they could just vanish. There was no sign of them anywhere. It was just terrible.”
‘Without you, we wouldn’t have a family’
Finally, on Wednesday, Sams’ fiancé, who had been acting as the contact with searchers, called to say everybody had been found in relatively good shape. Television crews at the home caught Sams erupting in joy and falling into the arms of a relative, screaming, “They found them!”
Dominguez, who had recently moved to the area from Southern California to be able to spend more time with his children, told television crews after the rescue that it hadn’t been easy to stay optimistic during their ordeal.
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“It was just really, really scary,” Alexis said in an interview on CNN, “the most scariest thing possible to imagine.”
Ward and White, who’ve been involved in numerous search missions, said this one was special.
“They did the right things,” White said. “If they hadn’t gotten out of the weather, it could have been a grim outcome.”
“It’s not too often we have a positive outcome like this,” added Ward. “This was just a victory for us to find them and be able to bring them to safety before this next storm hits.”
Wilson expressed her gratitude to Ward and White at the end of the interview.
“Thank you so much, our hearts go out to you and everybody who searched,” she said. “Without you, we wouldn’t have a family, we wouldn’t have a Christmas, and I can’t even express from everybody in the family how much this means to us.”
“It was our pleasure,” said White. “Merry Christmas.”
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