Hero skydiver takes force of fall to save parachute woman
WHEN both parachutes failed as skydiver Dave Hartsock took a grandmother on her first jump, he made the bravest decision of all.
As the pair hurtled to the ground 13,000ft below, Dave made sure he took the full force of the landing.
His selfless heroism saved Shirley Dygert – but left Dave paralysed from the neck down.
Now Shirley has thanked the hero skydiver after they met for the first time since the accident.
“I would be dead if it wasn’t for Dave,” said Shirley, a mother of two and grandmother of three. What he did is unbelievable. I will never forget it.”
Modest Dave, 44, brushed off her comments, saying: “Her life was in my hands. I did what I had to do, the only thing to do.”
Shirley’s first jump was to celebrate her 54th birthday on August 1 last year. Her husband Bill, 56, elder son Will, 32, and grandchildren watched from the ground at the skydive centre near their home in Teague, Texas.
After a morning’s training, Shirley was ready to jump out in tandem with Dave above the plains of Texas.
Disaster struck when the parachute failed to open. As they spiralled out of control, Dave grasped for the cord to release it. But it was trapped.
“I said: ‘Hold on, we’re in big trouble’,” said Dave, who is an instructor for Skydive Houston. Shirley said: “I thought, ‘I am going to die now’.” Dave had no choice but to open the reserve parachute without releasing the first one. The two instantly tangled.
Knowing they would hit the ground with enormous force, Dave positioned himself underneath Shirley. “My back hit the ground first and I felt pain rushing through my whole body,” said Dave. “I asked Shirley if she was OK, then I blacked out.”
He shattered his spine and is in a wheelchair. Shirley injured her neck but was out of hospital in a week.
The two met up at the TIRR Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston. “I cried, but Dave was cracking jokes and making me laugh,” said Shirley.
