Young Family Almost Die After Being Stranded In The Desert I Shouldn't Be Alive S4 EP13 | Wonder

you when an innocent day trip goes badly wrong a family of four stranded in the Arizona desert missed a nasty situation that progressively got worse miles from the highway they must walk out in the burning Sun this heat is killer and it kills people every day deep in bandit country how far will one couple go to save their kids I guarantee you if you're gonna kill my kids I will shoot you [Music] [Music] [Music] surely her two children and new boyfriend Roger are enjoying an afternoon out in the Arizona desert my kids both have been raised in the outdoors Tiffany was attending school and Mikayla had just started Kenny gardener this is an extra special trip Shelly's boyfriend Roger has just moved in and wants to make sure everything runs smoothly what help the relationship is because the girls really liked Roger he was always very very kind to me Tiffany at nine years old was always reaching for a father figure I was like okay I guess we're gonna try to make this work cuz the kids really like you you seem like a good dad [Music] the girls are my life and they have always been my life and I would do anything for them it's a good break to get out in the desert and it's close enough you can grab a couple packs of hot dogs and some buns and you're and we're good to go the family have driven from their home 40 miles away for Roger it's new territory but Shelly has been coming to this area since she was a child coming from a family that didn't have a lot of money the entertainment that we would do as a family is go out in the desert the Arizona desert is a vast wilderness covering 120,000 square miles it's known as one of the world's harshest environments but for Shelly and the kids age nine and five it's a perfect place to take part in one of their favorite activities it's always fun every time we go that's fun Shelly is curious to know how her new boyfriend will get on Roger was the kind of guy that worked in an office any air conditioning and if things needed done it at his house he would have somebody come over and do it we were just having a good time everything was great the days gone well but by 4 o'clock Shelley wants to make sure they get home before dark at night the desert becomes a sinister place you don't know who you're gonna run into there's a lot of illegal trafficking Shelly's worried about dangers from the nearby Mexican border violent gangs patrol the area threatening anyone in their way they'll try to run you off the road or they'll just run right into you [Music] but the dangers of the night are far from everyone's mind as they make the one-hour trip back home Shelly's made the journey many times before Shelley knew that desert better than most anybody else that I know I on the other hand I'm from New Jersey today the family had their picnic somewhere new though Shelly knows that desert well half an hour into their journey home the landscape looks unfamiliar I could tell what the weed growth that it wasn't a well-used path and I remember this road should be well used even though she's losing her bearings Shelly hopes she'll pick up the trail but I thought well well let's go up this road see if it leads to a main road that I'm used to but the road becomes more uneven and it seems that going further off the beaten track we went along until I came to a dry riverbed and the sides of it were pretty steep I don't think we can make it being in a two wheel drive truck you don't you're only traction is your back tires this is oh I'll Drive I'll get us through there hoping he can save today Roger takes over the bumper got hung up on the downside leaving the rear wheels off the ground spinning like this the family truck is ill-equipped for this type of terrain and is now totally stuck in the sand roger has a plan to get them out of trouble I didn't really know what was going on at first I figured they can get it out we tried putting more rocks up under the wheels because you keep in mind the wheels were this high off the ground because the truck was sitting like this you didn't have shovels of course we're just pulling out to go shooting right no matter what we did we just couldn't get enough weight on the on those wheels okay I'll call for help the cell phone that we had the battery was dead there was no charger in the truck I should have just stuck to my my decision and says no we're gonna turn around here we're just we're not even gonna try this I'd gotten an earful more in that first hour than most people would generally get in a year of being newlyweds I'm sorry we had enough provisions on that particular day for one day with the vehicle stuck and with no way of contacting anyone Roger knows there's only one option Shelly knows just how dire their situation has become from the time the Sun sets to the time that sunrises is very dangerous I only had one thing on that was to to get my girls out of that desert [Music] I don't really remember anybody falling asleep that night armed with their skeet shooting gun Shelly and Rogers stay awake in the fear of lawless gangs of human smugglers from the Mexican border themselves have no regard for human human life and it don't even matter who it is it was just praying to God that they girls would be alright and they wouldn't get hurt or worse [Music] relieved when the morning arrives without incident everyone tackles the day with renewed energy we're encouraged you know we're kind of energized to say my gosh we can do this we really thought daylight would help us so that we could see exactly what kind of situation we were in with the truck still stuck fast Roger knows he's got to come up with something to get his new family home to safety my brain started saying Raju you better think of something there was that truck we passed a while back there was a Bronco that we had passed the rims were gone so we decided well let's at least try to get to that Bronco see if it's got a jack in it and then we can get started together it's going to be a four mile hike back to the Bronco and with only two small bottles of water they risk serious dehydration in the ferocious heat I know you're told to stay with the vehicle and I'm thinking the vehicle has a/c but if we sit there at the vehicle we're gonna be there for days that roads untraveled [Music] even at 7:00 in the morning the Sun is wearing them down we knew it was going to be hot real hot and not what most people in civilized countries are used to not you're 85 90 degrees try between 115 and 118 degrees it's particularly tough on the kids their lower body weight means they get dehydrated quicker Oh every 20 feet everybody's sipping water and I'm noticing that there's only one one small sports drink bottle left Tiffany you know was already done had enough and Isis will let's just get to the Bronco we'll find the jack and we'll get out of here the combination of extreme heat and having to stop for the kids means it takes them five hours to walk just four miles to the Bronco we start going through everything lifting everything out thinking there's got to be Jack in here when there wasn't a jack I think everybody was like we're being a deal Roger Shelly and the two girls are now in serious trouble we had like three inches of water in that Gatorade bottle with almost no water Roger knows if he's to get his new family out of trouble he needs to take drastic action y'all need to stay in the shade and just count on the fact that I'm gonna get back here because I know I can make a lot quicker time by myself it was the right decision leaving is hard but they're miles from civilization and he fears the kids won't be able to keep going [Music] probably the toughest thing that I've ever done my wife give everybody a kiss and I started on a slow jog actually he was feeling very guilty I mean when he walked away from us he almost was running and I'm thinking you can't do this in the heat Rajas best chance of help is to find a main road but he has no idea where he's going and after just half an hour he's feeling the effects of the hundred and eighteen degree heat it was not so bad at first before then you realized that you'd better not be breathing through your mouth anymore because with every breath of that hot air that you're taking in you're losing that much moisture in your mouth roger has been following the only path in the vast wilderness of the desert now as he stumbles to a junction he's faced with a choice one way leads out the other takes him deeper into the desert there's not much tire tracks I'm thinking to myself this definitely is not the way out [Music] Roger chooses the path with more tracks with Shelley and the girls depending on him he can only pray he's made the right decision as Shelley waits for Roger with her kids she fears for their survival we were all really getting weak you have no water a helpless and almost a hopeless situation they've pinned all their hopes on Roger but three miles down the road he is totally lost I slowed down for a second and I looked at the enormous sea of that desert the Sun just boiling down ruthless on your face with no point of reference in the endless terrain Roger must do everything he can to keep his bearings my thought process is that as I find my way out I darn well better be able to find my way back by mid-afternoon with no sign of Roger Shelley starts to feel desperate maybe we should go we discussed it because me and my mom are both stubborn I said to the girls if he dies if we sit right here we'll never get help we have got to walk leaving seemed the best choice but with the Sun beating down and two children in tone Shelley soon feels the strain even though you're raised in Arizona and they say that your Bloods thinner a body still a body you still get hot [Music] it's kind of like standing next to a fire but the fires above your head and you can feel yourself being burned and you're running out of complete energy there's no more energy left [Music] determined to find help before night falls roger has now been walking for eight hours grinding heat in the lack of water is one heck of a combination you're suffering some serious amount of sunstroke in these conditions the average person needs two pints of water per hour but Rogers had none all day out of nowhere he sees something that could save him I thought that must be something a cattle trough in the distance could be his lifeline I got mad and started picking up rocks and throwing it at the water trough and kicking it cursing and that's when I realized that things were not going to get better in a quick hurry here hours after setting off Shelley and the kids find it hard to cover any distance in the suffocating heat until now there's been no sign of Roger they noticed Roger had started putting cans and bottles and stuff in the trees now they arrived at the same Junction Roger passed earlier but unlike him Shelley recognizes the landscape and I'm like I know these mountains if we go straight over those mountains than homes right over that mountain Shelley realizes that Roger has taken the wrong road the one that leads deeper into the desert she doesn't know what to do homes that way but he went to the right and if he finds help he's gonna come back the way he walked Shirley must decide if her kids will survive the trip over the mountains or whether Roger will find help first come on she Gamble's on Roger in the hope he succeeds our options were not good options we didn't have a good option in there as the afternoon draws on they become more dehydrated without water the body can't flush out poisons or regulate temperature causing weakness headaches and delirium my head was hurting and just hurt to walk I was so thirsty my tongue was sticking to the top of my mouth and I would do anything for water the thirst you get so thirsty if you could have anything in the world what do you want a big glass of iced water at last they see something in the barren landscape that could help them they come across the dumped belongings of illegal immigrants when the illegals get picked up they have to leave everything they have so they fit more than truck I guess so we're looking and looking for water jugs and every backpack [Music] chris noth honey do you think we're gonna die out here mom in my mind I'm thinking I don't think we're gonna make it but at the same time you can't express that to your kids nothing to be so close to something that you really desperate need of it's just horrible [Music] though exhausted they keep walking but that first is becoming unbearable hours after Roger they come to the same cattle truck that he passed earlier I remember my top lip was stuck to my teeth that kept driving me crazy so I'd lick my lips I didn't even work taxes tiffany has adjusted that in her class she learned that the roots of cactus hold more water than the actual cactus I can feel some oyster [Music] thanks and you do have moisture underground but for liquid no though the cactus roots are dry it gives Shelly a flash of inspiration I have always heard cactuses hold a lot of water if I shoot it I could probably get some liquid out of it and putting this empty gatorade bottle there's no water it's almost like a sawdust like fine wood chips inside it that's it there is no liquid whatsoever desperation sets in as they face a night in the desert without water that was it we were done Roger knows how dangerous the desert is at night as the day ends he can only pray for Shelly and the girls I was having a one-sided conversation with Shelly telling her that I love her and telling the kids that I love him and that they just need to hang on and believe it I mean that I wouldn't let him down you know and just praying to God that they were still alive Shelly and the kids are facing this second night in the wilderness I mean you're tired you got any hydration working against you you've got that you've been up since the night before and now you're up in another night with no sleep week as they are they need to make the most of the cooler night temperature of 85 degrees if we didn't make as much progress as we could that night come the next morning we weren't making it through the next day okay we'll take a walk as they readied themselves to go The Silence of the desert is broken Tiffany goes mom in their relief they forget all about the dangers of the desert oh my god we got help we got help [Music] why didn't it slab shellie feels uneasy but more so when the car turns and faces them you could hear the engine just make the noise and when somebody has pushed the accelerator to the floor it dawns on Shelley that far from rescue the driver is a member of one of the notorious gangs of human smugglers from the Mexican border I don't know where this energy came from I was just running for my life there was no other thoughts just I'm getting out of here I guarantee you you're gonna kill my kids I will [ __ ] Qi [Music] [Music] shelli's bravado pays off and at the last moment the driver veers away that person did try to kill us all these things out there that could have attacked us the mountain lions rattlesnakes and the only thing that messed with us was our own race not the wildlife the human race [Music] [Music] morning brings a return of the relentless heat and with it their chances of getting out alive decrease I knew we would not make it through the second day I already knew that their only hope of survival now is Roger but he's struggling as he tries anything to quench his thirst when I first put their pieces of cactus in my mouth it was great for a second and realizing when the moisture goes away from what's in your mouth it turns like a sawdust though disgusting the cactus has given him a few tiny drops of moisture that one characters saved my butt [Music] it's been 24 hours now since the girls have had any water and they too are desperate we've kind of lost our mind at this point we're way to hydrated really and I said oh I don't that can't be good I'm like oh my goodness okay well we are so thirsty [Music] so I end up peeing in this Gatorade [Music] they badly need to take on liquids in these conditions you can lose up to ten percent of your body weight through fluid loss more than that can be fatal yes I will never forget the taste it's absolutely disgusting like okay I gotta just do it I gotta do it [Music] and then I made Michaela mouth it's just so sickening you can never ever even imagine to bring yourself to do that you almost feel the weight pushing your body into the dirt in the sand that wouldn't let him down I had already let him down enough with no sign of help Shelly makes her last attempt to get attention by starting a fire [Music] and the sun's getting higher and higher I'm thinking where in the world is Roger he couldn't have made it at last it seems their prayers are answered [Music] [Applause] [Music] being close to us at all but your mind takes a vacation can you hear him Roger twos showing symptoms of advanced dehydration lack of water stops vital impulses being sent to the brain and causes blurred vision now his body is giving up there comes a point and this is when you really know you're in trouble stop sweating because now there's no moisture left in your body to get out of your pores but however tough it is the thought of Shelley and the kids drives him on thank you very family you can't give up at last Rogers determination seems to have paid off I saw a vehicle coming right towards me I knew that at that time of day no it was not gonna be a human smuggler I knew that [Music] I thought everything was going to be okay then finally Roger thinks he's found the help that's going to save his family first my girls need help art hardly talk because there's no moisture and I'm saying [Music] [Music] Raja's appearance has changed so drastically that he's mistaken for an illegal immigrant the most helpless feeling person could ever have in her in their life and I'm like what else what else could happen I knew that Shelley and those kids were running on empty out there now well into their third day the girls chances of surviving get less with every step they take I kept thinking I wonder if Rogers made it has he passed on do I need to keep walking [Music] after two days without water the effects of dehydration are causing the children's small bodies to shutdown or would this should we please do pre normal I really didn't want to live anymore cuz was painful as soon as she said that I mean my heart just sunk come on nice we will do it together just one after another okay honey she just keep pushing us forward I knew I had to keep going I can't lose these kids I brought them here on earth I can't give up it's taken Roger two days to walk just 13 miles in the suffocating heat now he's losing his own battle for survival I didn't have anything left in my tank mentally I think at that point I couldn't feel any pain or anything anymore everything was just starting to get like a hot numbness [Music] as Roger gives up all hope yet again he sees something on the horizon [Music] that truck came right up the same exact path that the prior one had come right at me about you it recognized me because he's calling me by my first name right away against all odds the driver knows watching and I realize that he's one of my customers from work it was pretty cool but very emotional [Music] Roger is safe but a few miles away the girls can't go on anymore with no shade all that Shelly can do is bury her kids in the sand to cool him down I crawled her her on my stomach and I'm so weak and I just start putting dirt on her and I could never get her covered she's crying for help and I can't help her it's a last desperate attempt to protect them from the heat but deep down Shelly knows it's too late between the cries out for help in the [Music] wanting to be dead you never will forget [Music] when the rescue service has arrived there's still only one thing on Rogers mind sorry the girls the girls and their mother this is we're gonna take you to a hospital I said sure I asked you're taking me no idea Hospital they said I'm getting my family girls we gotta find can't you go any faster they drive for hours but there's no sign of Shelley and the girls in the vast wilderness I thought their chances were at that point probably 5050 at the best out of nowhere there's the sound of a car and I start crawling on my hands and knees what does dry of a mouth is I have you're dehydrated you're weak and yelling for all you're worth well they kept on going they never looked at through rear view burn I was just so dehydrated I could barely move myself I didn't cover myself I just laid there on the dirt looking for they're gonna come back we just gotta hang in there and there were silence it's like the Bell has rung this is your last day [Music] Rogers beginning to lose hope that he'll find the girls alive I didn't know anymore if it was gonna be a rescue situation and pray like heck that it's not gonna be a recovery situation at last the smoke of a fire gives Roger hope that the girls may still be alive [Music] that's a book please clear as day I could tell that they were from the girls because Tiffany and Mikayla were wearing these sandals that had little circles for the tread so now I'm really encouraged a full rescue team was mobilized but they're almost out of time Shelly can do nothing except watch her children died in watching them dehydrate that's memories that's images that you never forget just as she's given up all hope she hears a vehicle so I came up and that's when I seen that it was the Ranger [Music] [Music] so it was right there on the cusp of life and death when we actually did get the help it was like having the weight of the world taken off your shoulders because I didn't have to fight no more my girls but the family's Odile is far from over Michaela it freaked me out I ran up the hill I had no energy but I ran up the hill [Music] I thought well in the midst of trying to find somebody to help us she'd passed away you go from so excited were saved were saved and then thinking I didn't note in time [Music] they kept trying to wake her up they could not wake her at all the trauma has been too much for five-year-old Mikayla and her kidneys have stopped working nuts not something that um you want to see your kids go through let alone be the cause of they had the chaplain come in and pray with us and I'm thinking only time I've ever heard a chaplain coming in somebody's in the hospital is when you're gonna lose that person I didn't want to lose my sister she's very important to me [Music] I woke up and I looked down to my arm and had an IV in my arm and I remember looking to the side of me and seeing my mom I was so happy that everybody was alive they say a human can only last out in that desert eight hours without water now we last a lot longer than that and a lot of that comes from my love for them in the peer drive to survive [Music] Makeda left hospital after a week and made a full recovery Roger and Shelly got married a year later and are still together [Music]

Channel: Wonder

Views: 9,079,744

Rating: 4.8236432 out of 5

Keywords: wonder, i shouldn't be alive, i shouldn't be alive full episodes, wonder i shouldn't be alive, i shouldn't be alive miles in the burning desert, miles in the burning desert, i shouldn't be alive s5 ep6, a family's desert hell, desert survival, desert survival tips, survival story, survival stories, desert, lost in the desert, lost in the wilderness, epic survival stories

Id: 1PxxGZYu3Qs

Length: 48min 10sec (2890 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 29 2018