A Step Too Far

Pete Bland was recovering from a 14-story freefall into a crevasse in Antarctica. His wife Jools rushed to his side...and was stunned by what she found.

Julia Bland: He wasn't making any sense. Just a stranger. And I just thought, where's my husband? What's going to happen?

Pete groped for word, was difficult to understand, and -- most heartbreaking of all -- didn't realize how jumbled his mind was.

He wrote in his diary: I hat to be where everywhere just have cross date day.

Pete and Jools had overcome so much in their life together... But had never faced an uphill climb like this before.

Jools brought Pete back home to the farm where, once again, she would have to nurse him back to health. She was relieved that Pete's injuries were no longer life-threatening, she was deeply worried about his brain damage. Her husband was simply no longer himself. Would he ever be?

Julia Bland: It's all you can do to sort of buy the groceries and cook some dinner and get through the day in that situation.

Jools worried Pete's judgment was impaired. They both knew his memory was affected. He took time off from work.  His obsession now was re-learning the names of people he'd known for years, memorizing numbers... Drilling himself even harder than his father had, when he'd forced Pete to do those detested exercises as a boy.

Julia Bland: It was very disturbing to have your husband want to spend dinner with you-- wanting to memorize your credit card number.

Sara James: This was not the Peter Bland who had left.

Julia Bland: This was-- this was a whole new scenario.

Just 32 years old, the ice man was battered and broken. Doctors said it would take eight years to know whether Pete's brain could create new pathways around the damage.

Pete had no memory of his fall or the three days in the crevasse. He watched the footage of the trip over and over again. Jools couldn't bear to see the reminder of what had shattered their dream. She was anxious, angry, overwhelmed. Her life was now consumed by helping Pete get better.

Julia Bland: I felt completely isolated and alone. I was sitting with a man next to me but I was absolutely alone.

Her husband, a stranger.

Julia Bland: I couldn't work out this person. He was really disturbing. And I remember thinking, "I'm just so sad."

Pete was doing everything he could to get better... And it was paying off.

Peter Bland: I just saw it as a challenge that I had to fix.  And I had to get out of it. And I had to rebuild myself.

Jools tried to keep their life together as normal as possible and became pregnant with their second child.

Both Pete and Jools felt a surge of hope when Angus Jay Robert Bland was born. They named him after Jay Watson, who'd saved Pete's life.

Julia Bland: If it wasn't for Jay, Angus wouldn't be on the planet.

But their joy over their new son was soon tempered by devastating news. Baby Angus had two holes in his tiny heart.

He needed surgery, just as Pete had as a child.

Peter Bland: They tell you it's not your fault, they tell you it's not congenital. But, I gave my son the same heart condition that I had.

First Pete and now her baby son. Jools blamed herself...wondered whether her heartbreak during her pregnancy had caused Angus's troubles.

Julia Bland: I sort of feel like with Angus, when I was pregnant with him, I feel like I had a broken heart.

Jools and Pete Bland had been through more in their 20s than most couples have in a lifetime. And now, their six-month-old son was undergoing open heart surgery.

Julia Bland: you're cutting open your baby's heart.  You just hope that everything is gonna go okay.

It did. The operation was a complete success.

Sara James: They bring Angus out, and what did they say?

Julia Bland: They said, "he's fine." You know, "he's fine."

Things were looking up in the Bland family. Both Angus and Pete were doing remarkably well. Thanks to his hard work, Pete was making a faster -- and fuller -- recovery than his doctors had thought possible.

The man who couldn't string together a simple sentence after his accident  was motivating others as a public speaker.

Peter Bland: If you've been to where I've been, you grab opportunities with not one hand, you give them a bear hug.

And two years after Angus was born, along came Dougal, a healthy baby boy.

From the outside, their lives seemed to be back on level ground... But Pete was struggling with who he was, and why. Learning to understand what had caused him to pursue this risky lifestyle in the first place.

Sara James: Who are you trying to prove this to, Pete?

Peter Bland: My father. It sounds stupid. I do everything for my father. I do know subconsciously a lot of it was about saying I am good enough.

It was an epiphany which brought forgiveness.

Peter Bland: "Dear Dad,You were a great dad.  You were inspirational, brave, determined, and generous."

As his father had since died, Pete poured his realization out on a paper napkin...

Peter Bland: I never thanked you for making me do my exercises. I only blamed you. You were a great dad. I miss you every conscious moment.

Pete realized he no longer needs to be best or first. He's content just being Pete, no longer tries to be Superman.

But his realization came too late to save the relationship he treasured most: His marriage.

Peter Bland: I have never been into a crevasse as deep as this. I have never been on a journey as long as this. I have never taken anything that's drawn upon my strength and resources anywhere near this.

Pete's adventures had cost his family dearly, both financially and emotionally.

Julia Bland: The impact on me has been more than I think is fair. To be honest, Pete's come first a lot. He's had to come first medically. And then, the children come first as well. So you get kind of lost in the wash. It's that frustration, that you need to, that you're a person as well, what happens to you? Where do you go?

Earlier this year, Jools asked Pete for a separation, and moved off the Bland family farm. The kids divide their time between the two.

Over the eight years since Pete's accident, Jools found a way to deal with her frustration and uncertainty.

Sara James: Is this the place where you just let it all out?

Julia Bland: This is the place, this is a padded cell (laugh).

With Pete's help, Jools converted this barn into an art studio. What began as a kind of self-prescribed therapy turned into a career. And last December, Jools had her first gallery exhibition.

Sara James:  Where does the Peter and Julia Bland saga end? 

Julia Bland:  I'm not exactly sure. But-- I have a great feeling about it.  I think that-- if we put fear aside and fear of how things might turn out, and trust, I think that it-- it'll all work out how it's supposed to.

Jools says she's determined to follow her path even as Pete follows his.

Pete regularly ventures to Antarctica. But rather than attempt risky world firsts, he leads groups of business professionals. Teaching them the difficult life lessons he has learned, here on the continent that cost him so much.

Peter Bland: I remain the adventurer. I am Pete Bland. And I'm an adventurer with a message. Test the boundaries. Go beyond the comfort zone that might be holding you back. And seek the goal beyond. But make sure you take full due diligence on the price that might be spent upon others who love you dearly.

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