In fact, Hileman's story is known all over Oregon and far beyond. It's very rare that anyone survives an ordeal like hers as long as she did. Hileman continues to hear from people all over the country, and even recently received an e-mail from a well-wisher in South Africa. 
   On the year's anniversary of the day Mischelle was found alive by friends Bill Lehr and Marilyn Siefert, Nov. 3, the Hilemans took them out for a quiet celebratory dinner as a way of expressing in a small way the deep appreciation and friendship the family feels. 
   "If it wasn't for them, I wouldn't be here," said Hileman, who observed her 40th birthday in October. A special late birthday present was being able to meet in person a group of 10 elk hunters from Milwaukee in the county during last year's search. They afterwards each pitched in $10 and sent her a $100 bill, telling Mischelle to buy something for herself, rather than putting it into her expense fund. 

   "It touched my heart, so much that I sat down and cried," recalled Jan Hileman. 
   The elk hunters, who call themselves the "Lloyd Road Gang" kept in touch and a long-distance friendship developed. The Hilemans were able to visit them at their elk camp, and they came down to the Lostine Tavern for a recent benefit taco feed for Mischelle. The taco feed was a joyous occasion, and the elk hunters plan to make it an annual reunion.
   Though Mischelle Hileman still has her life, she lost both legs because of her ordeal, and is still learning to live with that reality. Hileman said while waiting to be found during that long week along Alder Creek, she knew without a doubt that her legs were frozen and she would probably lose them 

   Hileman suffered through excruciating pain during chemical whirlpool treatments after the double amputation at St. Luke's Medical Center in Boise, Idaho, and was given larger than normal doses of pain medication to help her endure, which she was able to tolerate only because of her size.  
   Mischelle was 6 feet two inches tall before the amputation, but now, on her second pair of artificial limbs, stands only 5' 11". Specialists felt shorter legs would give her greater stability and make it easier to walk. As the healing process continues, she will be fitted with two more pairs of legs. 
  
Happy on her feet 

   "I always did want to be shorter," joked Hileman. Laughter is one way that the Hileman family has coped with Mischelle's situation ever since she was found alive, said her mother. Putting the prosthesis on every day is a frustrating process, but Hileman is more than a little happy just to be back on her own two feet. "Have you ever cooked bacon from a wheelchair," she asked. "Your eyes are right at the level of the splashing grease." 
   There are definitely some disadvantages to not having your own legs, she admits. Mischelle went deer hunting this year, but did her hunting from a stand because she isn't able to hike or navigate uneven ground yet. She loves to fish, but said her favorite fishing holes are now inaccessible. 

   "I love Wallowa Lake, but there's no easy place for a handicapped person to fish and have an easy place to go to the bathroom," she said. 
   Hileman has been through a lot in the past year, but her mother said she has remained positive and upbeat throughout. "She's always that way. She's amazing," said Jan Hileman proudly of her daughter. 
   Despite her loss, Mischelle Hileman said there's not a day she's not happy to be alive. She points to the things she is able to do now: walk, drive a car with hand controls, swim, spend time with her family and friends. 
   "The community has been incredible," she said of the outpouring of love and support, from pie auctions, to cards, messages and donations for medical expenses, that came her way after her survival.  

   She said she was "awestruck, dumbfounded " by the after-dark parade in Wallowa organized for her homecoming after 67 very long days in the hospital. Speaking slowly and carefully to try to express how she felt, Hileman said, "You don't think anybody notices you. And then for so many to acknowledge you is humbling." 
   Jan Hileman said she was very touched when announcer Lee Perkins said of her daughter in the county's Search and Rescue entry in the Chief Joseph Days parade, "Here comes our Mischelle." She noted, "That's how I feel, that she belongs to all of Wallowa County now." 
   
   Mischelle Hileman was not a person who lived in the limelight before her life-changing experience. She graduated from Wallowa High School in 1982, and ended up spending 10 years in John Day where she was the resident manager of an adult foster care home. Hileman has a special love of and rapport with senior citizens. When she moved back to the Wallowa area three years ago she became a frequent volunteer - and a favorite - at the Wallowa 
Senior Center.  
   Hileman was living with her grandmother Inez Spoelstra (now Guillory, since a Valentine's Day wedding), who was recovering from hip surgery at the time of that ill-fated elk hunting trip last year. An animal lover, Hileman had a job working for a company that transported pets all over the country. 

Guardian angels 

  Hileman doesn't mind talking what she remembers about her life-changing experience in the woods, but says people have a hard time believing part of it. 
   "Do you believe that there are guardian angels?" she asked. "Well, believe it." 
   Hileman's experience started simply enough. On a day hunting trip on Oct. 27 with her father, they separated and Mischelle ended up following three elk into a deep canyon. She realized it was starting to get dark and it would be prudent of her to spend the night and walk out in the morning. Hileman planned to start a fire, but when the lighter she was sure she put in her 
fanny pack wasn't there, she toughed out a cold, wet night in the canyon.

   In the morning she started to walk out, but slipped and fell into a hole, and two sticks punctured her leg from knee cap to ankle. "I hobbled, I crawled, I cried," recalled Mischelle. She had heard shots and knew people were looking for her, but no one answered her answering shots. She made a "nest" under a tree with boughs and branches not too far from the creek, and waited to be found. 
   About the second night the temperature plunged, and Mischelle first saw her angels. 
   "Nobody believes me, but I saw two angels - they were the most brilliant gold color you can imagine , one at my side and one at my feet," she said.
   "No, I wasn't cold. ... They kept me warm." Hileman said the angels came every night and left every morning. 

   Hileman only remembers about four days of her ordeal altogether. She crawled to the creek every day to drink water - it froze solid in the frigid temperatures, but the same elk she chased into the canyon ran through the creek and broke the ice, and she was able to keep a hole open for drinking water. 
   At one time she remembers talking to a cougar. Cougar tracks were later found all over in the snow near her resting place. 
   On Sunday, Nov. 3, 2003, Hileman heard a voice yelling, "Mischelle, Mischelle." It was rescuer Bill Lehr, and remembers one of the first things she said: "What took you so long."  Hileman and her parents have since joined Wallowa County's Search and Rescue Unit. Noting that the official search for her was scaled way back after the fourth day, Hileman had a ready answer when she was asked on her application what she had to offer the unit: "I'm 
going to be the person who's going to be pushing to keep looking beyond the fourth day, saying, 'never give up'." 

   Many people have called Mischelle Hileman's survival a true miracle, and she's the last to argue with them. She had a strong faith in God before, and her trial has only made it stronger. 
   "The good Lord's got a plan for everyone and doesn't give you more than you can handle, even though you think it's the end of the line," she said. 

© 2003 Wallowa County Chieftan