Faith Kept Stranded Man Alive

He ate dry leaves and grass, drank his own urine and was confronted by a bear.

But Luis Cruz, the 26-year-old who was stranded for 12 days with a fractured back in the Angeles National Forest, said Wednesday that he never lost his faith that he would survive the ordeal.

“I was never afraid to die,” the born-again Christian said from his hospital bed in Pasadena. “I was in real pain, real tired ... but God never left my side. I was never alone.”

He wore a string of rosary beads around his neck, reciting “prayers whenever it was necessary,” he said.

Cruz, a native of El Salvador who lives in the San Fernando Valley community of Arleta, said he was comforted by his father’s words--that perseverance in difficult times turns boys into men.

Unable to walk, he had crawled for miles during his harrowing adventure, but could joke Wednesday about coming face-to-face with an unexpected companion only 15 feet away.

“I suddenly woke up and there was a bear,” Cruz said with a chuckle. “He was scared and I was scared. He ran away, but I couldn’t....”

Cruz was rescued Tuesday afternoon after he was discovered by a hiker, about seven miles from the campground where he had abandoned his disabled truck Aug. 9. He had intended to walk home.

He was flown to Huntington Hospital in Pasadena, where he was reported in “fair to good” condition late Wednesday. Doctors said Cruz suffered a fractured vertebra, a dislocated left shoulder and numerous cuts and bruises. Andrea Stradling, a hospital spokeswoman, could not say how long Cruz would remain at Huntington.

The Valley College student, who is studying biology, was well enough to talk about the ordeal for a half hour with a small group of reporters in his fourth-floor hospital room. He offered no explanation for his decision to walk home after his sports utility vehicle was disabled.

Instead, Cruz talked about how he survived in the woods. Angeles National Forest is the nation’s second most heavily used federal wilderness, with 32 million visitors annually, but for Cruz it was as remote as a place could be.

Equipped with a backpack with water and books, Cruz said all was well until he fell 15 to 20 feet off a cliff into a wooded canyon that contained a small stream.

“I landed on my feet,” he said, explaining that’s how he broke his back in the fall. He also dislocated his left shoulder, but that didn’t seem to deter him. “I popped it back into place,” he said nonchalantly.

Unable to walk, he said he ate grass, dry leaves and about four or five berries that were quite tasty.

He drank the water in the backpack, but soon drank some water from the stream and soiled water from the ground.

“God was looking out for me when I fell,” Cruz said, adding that the presence of water was the Lord’s work.

Occasionally, he cried out for help.

“I screamed ‘help’ and ‘ayuda,’ ” the bilingual Cruz said, “but no one heard me. I knew my family was looking for me. I knew I wasn’t alone.”

As the ordeal stretched into a second week, Cruz said his greatest fear was the nighttime temperatures, which authorities said reached estimated lows of 45 degrees.

“My back hurt bad and I couldn’t move,” he said. “I got a little bit of heat [but not enough].”

Eventually, when there was no more water, Cruz said he drank his own urine.

“I splashed it on my face,” he said, explaining he hoped it would keep him warm.

Hospital officials could not estimate how much weight Cruz had lost in the forest, but he told rescuers he couldn’t eat solid food. “Mark [the hiker who found him] gave me water and a sandwich, but I couldn’t eat it. My stomach shrunk too much,” he said.

Cruz had tried to keep track of time and was sure he had been stranded 11 days. “But the rescuers told me it was 12,” he said.

Family members said Cruz liked to go to the national forest for some solitude.

When asked if he would visit Angeles again, he was vague about it, but added he had learned a valuable lesson.

“I would try to stay in touch with someone,” he said. “I wouldn’t be going alone.”

Cruz described his ordeal matter-of-factly. Only when he talked about his father’s reaction to his rescue did Cruz show any emotion, fighting back tears.

“My father doesn’t cry, and he was crying today,” he said of their hospital reunion. “I don’t cry, but today I am.... “