Matt Hadley, a respected member of Canmore’s mountain biking and trail building communities, has returned home after a freak accident on a trail in Utah destroyed his leg.

“It’s certainly nice to be at home with the fresh air in the mountains and family time,” said Hadley. “It helps lighten your mood. Being outside and seeing the mountains and the sunshine is huge.”

The 35-year-old and his wife Catherine had been visiting the Moab region of Utah in March and, following several days of challenging mountain biking, the couple decided to take a leisurely hike for a change of pace.

“We were out at Fisher Towers doing a hike there,” recalled Hadley. “We hiked out to the end of the trail and were coming back, it was raining and (there was) a little bit of snow up high, and basically hiking along. Next thing I know I’m laying on the ground in the dirt.”

Hadley said the section of trail was at the base of a nearly 200 metre high cliff, roughly the height of the Calgary Tower. “A rock rolled off the top and I never saw it or heard it because it was just in free fall. It came down and it would have hit my leg as I’m standing up and went right through my femur and through my tib-fib (tibula and fibula) and basically turned everything down there into mush.”

The rock was roughly the size of a basketball.

“My wife was there and she put a tourniquet on my leg,” said Hadley. “She 100 per cent saved my life. That femoral artery was ripped off and my femur was broken and jammed up into my crotch.”

It took EMS crews nearly 45 minutes to reach the injured hiker, another hour to stabilize him, and it was roughly five hours before he arrived in hospital. “It was a long process. I was blacked out or sedated for most of that.” A decision was made at the hospital in Denver, Colorado to amputate Hadley’s right leg at a spot slightly above the knee.

After multiple weeks in hospital in Colorado followed by a hospital stay in Calgary, Hadley has returned to Canmore. “I’ve got broken metacarpals in both my thumb and index finger, it’s healing really quite well. I got the pins out last Thursday when I got discharged from the hospital. Getting more and more mobility now."

"The stump is healing quite well. I’ve got a skin graft on the whole top of it and that’s going to delay me getting into a prosthetic," added Hadley. “It needs to get tough enough to withstand the motions of a prosthetic moving up and down on that leg. That’s going to be a month-and-a-half or so before I really get into a prosthetic and then it’s learning how to walk with it. I’ll do some of that at the hospital here in Canmore with outpatient physio.”

Hadley had raced mountain bikes on the world cup circuit and as a member of the national team before he started designing and building trails at the Canmore Nordic Centre. He also coached youth racers at the Rundle Cycling Club.

When asked if his doctors have approved a return to the trails, Hadley grinned. “Sometimes it’s better not to ask questions. With the crutches I’ve been able to get around and do more on pavement or on a wide trail. I thought I’d hop on and ride my mountain bike right away but Catherine, my wife, told me not to. She very clearly said no.”

Hadley says he’s appreciative of the support he’s received in Canmore and from people who have faced similar situations.

“The community support’s phenomenal,” said Hadley. I mean, yeah, I have a positive attitude but when you do get down you think about what people said or when they’re talking to you and it’s huge. It makes a big difference to have the community of Canmore and the community of mountain bike racers that I used to be a part of and everyone behind me.”

“So many people reach out to me and tell me similar stories that they’ve had and how they got through it. It makes a big difference when you can relate to other people.”

According to Hadley, little could have been done to prevent the incident on the trail near Fisher Towers. “This one’s really hard to learn from. There’s families that walk that trail every day with their little kids and it could have happened to anybody. It’s just wrong place, wrong time. I can’t blame Mother Nature. I was there at the wrong time. One second earlier and it wouldn’t have happened to me, maybe it would have hit my wife, or, one second later, it might have hit me in the head.”

“I’m here and the rest of my body works and there’s great prosthetics so hopefully I keep making a good recovery and can get back to most of what I liked to do before.”

Hadley says he’s unsure of what insurance will cover when it comes to his prosthetic or how many different feet he will require. “Alberta Health will buy a stock prosthetic for you but when you get into the fancier myoelectric knees, those are $100,000 to $150,000, and that you need to buy on your own.”

A GoFundMe campaign, Matt’s Medical Care & Rehabilitation Journey, continues to collect donations to help fund the cost of a prosthetic and any necessary modifications to the couple’s home.

With files from CTV’s Alesia Fieldberg