December 16, 2018
It was like any other Kiwi summer for Jessica Gestro – days spent at her bach, swimming at the beach with her friends and cliff jumping.
The Auckland teenager had just graduated from high school and was spending time with her friends in the Coromandel Peninsula before heading off to Wellington for university.
On January 24, Gestro was at Cathedral Cove, a beach which boasts thousands of people in the summer months. It also has a 15- to 20-metre-high cliff which is a popular spot for jumping.
Gestro had jumped off two or three times earlier. But her last leap into the water ended dangerously and she broke her lower back.
Looking back on the experience, the Mt Eden resident said "water is like concrete until broken".
"I landed terribly – the way I landed, it caused a smack up my spine," Gestro said.
"One foot was bit too far forward and I landed like I was sitting."
Her vision went blurry and she was panting, she said.
"One second I was on a cliff and one second later, I was not able to breathe."
Her friend, who was already in the water, swam her to shore.
"Stupidly, because I've got a high pain tolerance, I decided I'd walk up the beach after getting out of the water which [was] an absolute nightmare – I shouldn't have done that," Gestro said.
She met the lifeguards, who are also her co-workers – Gestro herself is a surf lifesaver.
"They were pretty surprised to see that it was me there and in trouble. Usually I'm doing all the safety stuff."
After a fast recovery, Gestro was able to head off to university in time and this year, she would be patrolling the beaches in the Coromandel Peninsula.
She would be keeping an eye on cliff jumpers and warning others about the dangers of jumping, she said.
When intensive care paramedic Rusty Clark arrived at the scene, a number of people had been tending to Gestro.
Clark has been working as an intensive care paramedic for 14 years and had been at the Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust for about eight years.
"From what I recall, she was alert and in good spirits but was in quite a bit of pain," Clark said.
Gestro broke her lower back – her T11 and T12 thoracic vertebrae – and was flown by a Westpac Rescue Helicopter to Auckland City Hospital. At the time, she was in a moderate condition.
Cathedral Cove was a "unique spot" to land a helicopter in – "if the tide is out enough, you can land quite easily", Clark said.
"Cathedral Cove and a lot of those areas have very remote access so if you can't get a helicopter in there, you could potentially be talking hours and hours delay to get someone out of there in a road ambulance."
Any fall from a great height, whether it was on water or land, meant there was potential for serious injuries, he said.
"I've been to a number of serious injuries with people falling from heights into water and fatalities," Clark said.
"It's a double-edged sword. You want people to have fun – it's very exciting, there's an adrenaline rush and nine times out of 10, it goes right.
"But there's always potential for it to go wrong."
Clark believed people needed to be informed of the risks that went along with cliff-jumping.
"Putting as [many] safety precautions in as you can will help mitigate that.
"Have people in the water that can assess for rescue if it goes wrong, [and] time the jump – if there are waves coming in that particular area make sure you jump at the height or the crest of the wave that comes through."
Throughout New Zealand, 10 cliff-jumping incidents were lodged with ACC in 2017, 10 in 2016 and nine in 2015.
- Ten cliff-jumping incidents were lodged with ACC in 2017, 10 in 2016, and nine in 2015.
- Since September 2018, Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust were sent on 685 missions (plus 40 Rapid Response Vehicle missions).
- In 2017, Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust made 1013 missions (plus 25 Rapid Response Vehicle missions).
- From July 1, 2017 to June 30, 2018, medical event missions represented 61 per cent of Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust's missions, accidents were 35 per cent, search and rescue were 3 per cent and inter-hospital transfers were at 1 per cent.
