A spur of the moment decision by a group of friends saved a man’s life over the weekend when Christian McCaffrey, along with his brothers and two friends jumped into action when a 72-year-old fell off a mountain onto rocks 20 feet below.
Christian McCaffrey and his friends saved the life of a hiker who plummeted 20 feet
They even went to the hospital to make sure his 13-year-old grandson wasn’t alone.
James Dator has been covering a wide range of sports for SB Nation for over a decade, with a special focus on the NFL.
McCaffrey and Co. hadn’t planned to go up Castle Rock that day. They were on their way to lunch when they decided to take a detour and do a little hiking. It was there they witnessed Dan Smoker Sr., who was hiking with his grandson, lose his footing and fall. McCaffrey told Panthers.com about the incident.
“It felt like he was in the air for 10 seconds. I had never seen anything quite like that in my life as far as the trauma and the sound. We were in shock.”
They immediately sprang into action. McCaffrey called 911, before the group descended to the man, who had stopped breathing. The group had the wherewithal to stabilizing the man’s head and perform chest compression, until paramedics arrived up the mountain some 10 minutes later.
“Everybody stepped up,” McCaffrey said. “I called 9-1-1, and it felt like an eternity. It felt like we were up there waiting for four hours. But I looked back at my call log and it took 11 minutes before the paramedics came. Amazing what those guys did.”
13-year-old Eli Smoker was alone. He called his parents, who were in San Diego celebrating their wedding anniversary while he stayed with his grandfather. The boy told his dad that his father had fallen, and the realization set in that his son was alone, and his father was headed to hospital.
“My dad is laying there and there is nothing I can do for him. And my son is there freaking out, and there’s nothing I can do for him,” Dan Smoker recalled. “It was the worst experience, both as a father and as a son.”
McCaffrey and his friends didn’t stop helping when paramedics arrived. They prayed with the boy for his grandfather, before coming to the hospital — both to check on the man they helped save, and also ensure young Eli wasn’t alone.
“We all took it upon ourselves to check up on that kid,” McCaffrey explained. “It could be a lifelong bond between us. He experienced a lot in those five minutes.”
Neither Eli, nor his parents knew they’d been helped by an NFL player and his friends. Nobody ever name dropped that McCaffrey played for the Panthers — they just wanted to help.
“One of the things that amazed me the most was just the humility,” Smoker said. “It was not about, ‘Look at who I am.’ They just wanted to make sure we were OK. That was it. They wanted to see how my son was doing.”
McCaffrey says his group were just “in the right place, at the right time” — but it wasn’t just about being there, it was how they acted throughout the entire process. They changed more than one life because of their quick thinking and care.
