A GoFundMe page has been set up to help the man's widow and 3-month-old baby girl.
A grieving widow is speaking out about the dangers of extreme heat after her husband died while hiking with friends as temperatures hit triple digits.
“If it’s hot outside, don’t risk your life for a hike,” said Amy Dishion, while holding the couple’s infant daughter.
When Dr. Evan Dishion went hiking on one of the hottest days of the year, Amy says she mentioned how hot it was, but didn’t push back, because the young dad had been so busy with his hospital residency.
“He’s been working and taking care of Chloe, and he hadn’t had time with his buddies, so I said ‘Please just turn around when it gets hot,’ and that’s just not what ended up happening,” Amy said.
The physician was with five friends on their hike outside Phoenix when rescuers say they ran out of water, but continued along the trail and eventually got lost. Their cellphone batteries went dead, all while temperatures soared to a blistering 109 degrees.
Amy says her husband separated from the group to walk to the car to get help, but was overcome by the heat.
“Evan went into cardiac arrest and he died there,” Amy said.
Survival expert Dan Baird says every hiker can learn from the deadly tragedy.
“The more we can do to minimize the stresses on us, the less danger we are going to be in. So going early is a great idea, doing that sort of stuff, minimizing the time out,” Baird said.
He says there is also a rule to follow when it comes to water.
“My rule of thumb to make it really, really easy is that, I plan to use a third going out, a third getting back and I have one more extra, equal part in case I have an emergency. So if I get through a third of my bottle, whatever size it is, I need to turn around,” Baird said.
He also warns that the heat plays havoc with your cellphone battery.
“Understand that hot and cold affect phone batteries. Your phone can overheat to the point where you can’t use it. It can also get so cold the battery drains out really fast,” Baird said.
A GoFundMe page has been started to help the doctor’s widow and 3-month-old baby girl.
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