Pierce Kelley

A Foreseeable Risk Pierce Kelley

Pete Collins, a 23 year old guide at the Great Northern Whitewater Rafting Company in Glacier, Montana, is seriously injured when he falls off a horse while on a trail ride with friends. He is paralyzed from the waist down as a result of the accident and is hospitalized for many months as he learns to function without the use of his legs. A year after the incident, he learns that the outfitting company may have been negligent in causing the mishap or in failing to prevent it from happening in the first place. A legal issue arises as to whether or not the release he signed pre-ride is valid. This is a story about what could happen to anyone who engages in a dangerous activity and signs a release of all liability before doing so. It is also a story about what it is like to live in a wheelchair and the challenges one must face in coping with the unimaginable change in circumstance of going from a virile young man to a handicapped man in a wheelchair. It is a story of survival. It is based on a true story.