An Otago University student who had an horrific accident in Yosemite National Park says she's lucky to be alive.
In August, third year marine biology student Anna Parsons was on her way to Vancouver Island to study at Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre.
But she decided to stop off in the US with her climbing friend Jack and tick Yosemite off her bucket list.
"I loved climbing and then Yosemite's such like the mecca of climbing especially, it's where climbing originated," says Parsons.
The pair decided to climb Snake Dike, one of the classic routes of Yosemite, rated as a moderate climb.
Anna had trained for months and is an experienced climber, so the route was well within her capabilities.
But in a freak accident, during the climb, her foot slipped.
"I saw the rope kind of go slack and I was like oh no and then I just remember falling.
"Then my harness went tight and then I just remember waking up on the ledge.
"I talked to Jack and I was like Jack, I need help, my ankle's really messed up so that's all he knew he could hear me like whimpering."
Anna fell 25 metres and broke both her feet, her pelvis, ribs, spine and neck. Due to her broken ribs, her lungs also collapsed.
"I should have died straight on that ledge."
Her friend Jack called for help, and she estimates search and rescue teams arrived 20 minutes later.
"Apparently I was conscious the whole time talking to them, they put me on a metal cage and lowered me down, I remember it being pretty painful cause it's quite jolty you know with a rope rappelling system."
Her left foot was so badly damaged, it had to be amputated.
"Looking at the X-ray of it, it was like messed up, the fibula was all smashed and I saw it when I was on the ledge, it was like hanging on.
"Losing your leg is like mourning a person, every below-knee amputee or amputee who's lost even more, you mourn for the loss of your foot."
"It's literally like losing a friend you know, like losing a part of you, I'm always going to be sad that I don't have my foot but then you're like, I can feel the grass on the other foot you know like its ok," she said.
Parsons was in Memorial Hospital for four weeks, at $4000 a night. Her travel insurance only covers part of her medical bills, which are expected to be more than $1 million.
A Give a Little page was made to help, which is currently at $367,000.
Most of these funds were used to get her home in an air ambulance.
"I also have to pay the surgeons, so I've written letters to my surgeons to explain my situation as well."
She's now back in New Zealand, and focusing on getting back to her hobbies.
Her sister Jessica Ennor says she's always been a "go-getter".
"She's always doing something - the mountain biking, surfing, climbing, tramping, the swimming," says Ennor.
The first thing Anna did when she arrived at Burwood Hospital's spinal unit was write her goals on the wall, which include returning to surfing, mountain biking and climbing.
Ennor says she can't believe how well Anna's doing.
"It's a miracle, every part of her, she's just sitting up, and joking and moving around, she's always outside venturing around the hospital grounds and its like you're meant to have a broken back and collapsed lung problems and you know, how are you doing this."
"Very proud, I know I couldn't be in her shoes and take it the way she's taking it.
"Like she said herself, just the mental thing, I mean you can choose sort of happiness or choose not and I think she's making really good choices which is really good."
Parsons says she's keen to return to Yosemite one day, after she's made a full recovery.
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