This Australian Hiker Crawled for Two Days to Find Help After 'Snapping' His Leg in Half

Neil Parker, a 54-year-old hiker from Australia, is lucky to be alive this week following a harrowing ordeal few others could survive.

According to Parker, while he was out hiking near Mount Nebo, located just outside of Brisbane, he fell and “snapped” his leg in half. Alone and afraid, he had to crawl his way to safety. It took him two full days to get help.

"I slid about 20 feet, cartwheeled and slammed into the rock and then landed in the creek on the bottom," Parker explained to Fox from his hospital bed. As he explained, his lower leg “clean snapped in half."

Parker remained calm following the accident. He knew there was no way he’d be rescued without finding a way out of the area first. So, he used his first aid kit to tend to his leg and took the only pain killers he had on him. He even managed to create a makeshift splint for his leg. But still, it was far from an easy journey out.

"I had to carry my leg — and legs are very heavy when they're not connected to anything — and [I was] trying to pick it up and get over rock and then use this elbow and this arm and just constantly struggling," Parker told the BBC. "I'd get about a meter, a meter-and-a-half, each time before I had to stop and take a break.”

According to Parker, he had no choice but to keep going. That’s because he simply kept thinking about his family and friends along the way.

Parker said thinking of his family and children gave him the strength to keep pushing forward.

"I was getting very emotional thinking this is not a nice way to die, just lying here," he said.

In total, Parker took two days to hobble just two miles. But it was enough to get spotted by a helicopter overhead and was finally rescued. Now, he’s undergoing treatment for both his leg and a broken wrist. But, he’s expected to make a full recovery.