National Park After Dark · National Park After Dark

Your Leg or Your Life: Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park

December 1, 2025·1 hr 17 min·6 clips

Valdis's friend Arvidas couldn't tell him the truth, so said 'your leg may be broken' — to which Valdis replied, 'So will I become handicapped?'

1. National Park After Dark presents the November 2024 survival story of Valdis Bialuskas, trapped for over 20 hours in Tasmania's Franklin River. 2. Host Cassie narrates the story; co-host Danielle hears it for the first time and reacts in real time. 3. The episode's core question, borrowed from the cold open, is whether the listener could make the same choices—endure pain, accept loss—if survival required it. 4. Valdis Bialuskas, 65, grew up in Soviet Lithuania where international travel was forbidden; his decades of global rafting expeditions were partly celebrations of freedom. 5. With nearly 50 years of experience, Valdis had paddled rivers on multiple continents, including Nepal, South America, the United States, and Africa, always flying the Lithuanian flag upon arrival. 6. In November 2024, Valdis and 11 friends drove the single road into Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park to begin a week-long unsupported rafting journey on the Franklin River. 7. The Franklin drops 3,000 feet in 80 miles, contains class five rapids with major obstacles and vertical drops, and has no roads, ranger stations, or cell service along its entire length. 8. After rain raised the river by two and a half feet on day two, the group took a rest day before continuing; on day three, Valdis slipped on boulders near the Karuskade Rapids and fell into a fast-moving pool, wedging his leg in a rock crevice up to his chest. 9. His life jacket kept his head above the 50-degree water, but the current continuously forced his leg deeper into the crack; friends spent 40 minutes trying to free him with ropes before calling for help via satellite phone. 10. A paramedic team arrived by helicopter at 5:20 p.m., and a full swift water rescue team with a heavy-duty tripod pulley system, hydraulic spreaders, airbags, and power tools arrived by 8 p.m. 11. Through the night, every technique failed: the pulley system, a direct sling on his leg (which caused intense pain), hydraulic spreaders, and a jackhammer that was rejected because of the blind conditions and drowning risk. 12. Valdis remained calm throughout the ordeal, described by paramedics as a 'perfect patient'—level-headed and cooperative despite a language barrier, with friends serving as Lithuanian interpreters. 13. Friends brought him hot tea every 30 minutes to combat hypothermia; the river temperature hovered around 50 degrees Fahrenheit and a second rain event could have raised the water to fatal levels. 14. By 6:30 a.m. on November 23, 20 hours after the fall, the team concluded that amputation was the only remaining option. 15. Arvidas, Valdis's close friend and a physician, was asked to tell him in Lithuanian; unable to say the word 'amputation,' he told Valdis his leg might be broken in the attempt, to which Valdis replied, 'So will I become handicapped?' 16. Arvidas replied, 'Maybe, Valdis, but if not, you will die here in this hole in as little as a few hours.' The two men nodded and shook hands. 17. Just as surgeon Dr. Nick Scott began preparing for the amputation, he slipped on the rocks and broke his own arm, leaving the team without a qualified surgeon on site. 18. Trauma specialist Dr. Jorian Kippix, also an experienced mountaineer, was airlifted from Royal Hobart Hospital and lowered in by climbing harness to take over the procedure 21 hours after Valdis's fall. 19. The episode blends tight narrative pacing with conversational host asides, including personal rafting experiences and references to the hosts' earlier Nutty Putty Cave episode from April 2021. 20. Best suited for listeners who enjoy real-world survival narratives; less suitable for those who prefer strict documentary format without host commentary.

As heard by us

A grim rescue story that keeps the practical stakes in focus.

The episode turns a river rescue into a blunt reminder that a scenic day outdoors can tip into a life-or-death problem fast. It moves from ordinary reasons for heading into nature to the rescue itself, keeping the details practical and the stakes plain, while a bit of dark humor…

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Why you'd press play

You want a survival story where the rescue itself becomes the nerve-wracking centerpiece.

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