The bi-annual Outdoor Retailer Summer Market held in Salt Lake City, Utah is usually a whirl wind of promotion for Revo representatives and well-liked Summit County couple Pat and Larry Schmidt.
This time ' the winds were'real. And real strong. As the approximately 860 exhibitors were setting up their booths prior to the opening of this year's show, a tornado ripped through downtown Salt Lake and the show's tented pavilion.
With the winds picking up ' the Schmidts headed for the door. Larry was sucked out into the rain. Pat wasn't as fortunate.
When the storm died down, a cut and bruised Larry who is an avalanche survivor, found his wife unconscious and pinned beneath a tent support.
She was taken to University Hospital where she remains in critical condition.
Miraculously, Pat had no cuts or skull fractures, however, she was kept in a drug-induced coma and deprived of any sensory stimulation for six days because of a closed head wound.
On Tuesday morning the doctors took her off all sedation. Family and friends were allowed to talk to her and her eyelids began to flutter. Bruises, which covered the entire left side of her body are beginning to heal. No time frame has been given for when she will awake or return home.
