Ashland University sophomore Mitch Ramsey is in stable condition in the intensive care unit at Grant Medical Center in Columbus after suffering severe head trauma around 4 p.m. last Saturday while on a field trip with the AU geology club.

Dr. Michael Hudson, who has been Ramsey’s advisor since he arrived at AU, and five other students were at Hocking Hills with Ramsey when he slipped and fell 30 feet at Rock House, a cave the group was exploring.

“We were at Rock House, it was our third stop of the day…we were about ready to leave,” Hudson said. “[Mitch] made a decision to descend and slipped and fell. I had just turned around and I turned back around and saw him 50 feet below me.”

Hudson hollered down to one of his students who had already reached the bottom, asking if it was someone from their group. He described how the girl was in shock and couldn’t respond, but he heard a female voice respond, “It’s one of your students.”

“I descended as fast as my little legs could take me,” Hudson said, “Down about 50 feet to where he was and started attending to him…told one of the students to call 911 and get a life flight in there.”

Hudson asked one of his other student’s for his t-shirt and began taking care of Ramsey, who was unconscious. And then, he says a miracle happened.

“I would say within a minute…suddenly a guy is there and he said, ‘I’m a doctor…an emergency medical room doctor.’ And then the woman behind me said, ‘All three of us are emergency medical room doctors,'” Hudson said. Another man with the doctors was an EMT [Emergency Medical Technician]. All four of these professionals were with Ramsey within about two minutes of his fall.

“Given the event, you could not have asked for anymore miraculous care,” Hudson said. “The outcome could have been totally different at the site had those doctors not been there…I never would have rolled him over, they rolled him over, he was under good care. They were monitoring his pulse and heartbeat, his breathing and attending to the obvious wounds.”

Hudson said that once the doctors and EMT knew that the ambulance was on its way and they had Ramsey taken care of, they carefully carried him out of the cave and got him as close to the ambulance meeting point as possible. Had Hudson and his students been alone, they wouldn’t have been able to do this and they would have wasted another 20 minutes bringing the EMTs from the ambulance to the spot where Ramsey had fallen and then carrying him back to the vehicle.

“Time was of the essence,” Hudson said. “And with the nice weather and the doctors being there…things worked out…”

The ambulance took Ramsey to his life flight, which then transported him to Grant Medical Center in Columbus.

Hudson said his students were adamant about going to the hospital and so they all did. Ramsey’s parents arrived as well and their strength and hope overwhelmed Hudson.

“They have been remarkable,” Hudson said. “I can’t imagine being that calm, they have been unbelievably strong, they are absolutely 100 percent in support of anything the university wants to do with people going down and visiting. They are so strong. It’s incredible.”

Meanwhile, word slowly spread around AU’s campus and within hours the rocks around campus were tagged with “Mitch” instead of the usual Greek letters. Sunday night a candle light prayer vigil was held for Ramsey. Around 100 people showed up to pray and share their thoughts for Ramsey. And that just shows the kind of person Ramsey is.

“People should know that Mitch is a man of optimism,” sophomore Marisa Carafelli said. “I only know him from our education class and our car pools, but when talking to Mitch, I can tell he looks to the positive side of things.”

Ramsey’s roommate, sophomore Ross Mondell, agrees.

“Mitch is one who always brings a cheery attitude and always has a big smile on his face no matter what.”

Mondell said that the candle lit vigil was really nice and it was great to see everyone who was thinking about Ramsey.

“I know if his family saw that, that would mean a lot to them. It just shows kind of what type of a person he is. Everyone likes him. It’s really hard not to.”

Sophomore Casey Nickler was Ramsey’s roommate last year and went to high school with him. Nickler went down and visited Ramsey in the hospital Sunday and is planning more visits.

Senior Kristen Loop knows Ramsey well and wants people to know not to give up hope.

“Swelling was at 20 percent when they admitted him and you should never go over that,” Loop said, “And he is now at one percent in just three days. He is healing miraculously. To me it was a huge deal at the time but now I don’t see a reason to not have hope, there is no reason for me to think otherwise.”

Junior Desi Kierner said that she didn’t know Ramsey very well at all, but the fact that she always felt comfortable with him just shows what kind of person he is.

“He radiates a personality that draws people to him,” Kierner said. “You don’t walk around and not notice who he is. We didn’t know each other very much at all, but I would smile at him because I would feel like I knew him. You can walk up to him and start a conversation about anything. He doesn’t come across as harsh or judgmental or static…he comes across very much as a kind of best friend.”

Kierner agress with Loop that being positive and hopefully is the way to help Ramsey right now.

“I just want to say to students, there is nothing more disappointing to wake up to than to people who’ve lost hope. It’s better to have hope and in the end be let down than not have hope now and disappoing that person when they do wake up.”

Mondell couldn’t agree more.

“I’m praying for the best for him. My belief is that he’s going to be back and be better than ever. I pray for his family. They’ve got my full support and Mitch knows he has my full support. I love him. I miss my roommate. I know everyone else does too, seeing his smiling face around campus.”

Many agree that Ramsey is strong and that this is just another obstacle he will overcome.

“There have been so many stories told about Mitch in the last 48 hours, incredible testimonies,” Hudson said. “Mitch has the will, internally, to beat this and come out just like the Mitch before. He is inspirational and his commitment to education is inspirational. He has enthusiasm for life, strives for absolute excellence in everything he does and he is not satisfied with the status quo.”

Even through his accident, Ramsey is still bringing people together.

“The entire AU campus sends out our prayers and best wishes to Mitch on his recent accident,” President Dr. Fred Finks said. “It is situations like this that cause all of us to know the value of strong friendships and support. Please keep Mitch and his family in your prayers for a speedy recovery.”

Ramsey is in room 314 at the Grant Medical Center in Columbus and while cards and flowers cannot be delivered to the ICU, balloons are allowed. Mondell encourages everyone to continue to keep the faith and remember that Ramsey is doing the same.

“Don’t give up on him, because I know he’s not going to give up on us.”