Stuart Nelson, 21, to have facial surgery (From The Northern Echo)

Stuart Nelson, 21, to have facial surgery

8:14am Monday 1st March 2010

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ONE of four climbers who survived an avalanche is expected to return to the region shortly to undergo surgery.

Stuart Nelson, 21, and friend Caed Parker, 22, were both swept 750ft off a Lake District fell last Monday evening.

Extreme sports enthusiast Mr Nelson, who along with father, Derek, is a volunteer for Redcar RNLI, suffered broken bones and facial injuries.

The friends were taken to Cumberland Infirmary, Carlisle, where Mr Nelson’s condition was last night described as comfortable. Mr Parker, who suffered serious head injuries, is in a stable condition.

The pair were among four people tackling St Sunday Crag, in Patterdale, Cumbria, when the avalanche struck.

A 54-year-old man from the Durham City area suffered an ankle injury, while a man in his 50s from Merseyside was unhurt.

Redcar lifeboat spokesman Dave Cocks said crew members from Patterdale Mountain Rescue Team, which winched the men from Pinnacle Ridge, had visited them in hospital.

He said: “Stuart is now laughing and smiling, but he is still very bruised and sore.

“The plan is for him to be moved within the next few days to the James Cook University Hospital, in Middlesbrough, for facial surgery.

“He is getting back to normal.”

It is understood Mr Parker is also improving slowly.

The Northern Echo reported on Thursday how, in a twist of fate, at the same time that Mr Nelson was engulfed in the avalanche, his father was part of a Redcar RNLI crew rescuing a woman from the sea.

The 37-year-old, from Middlesbrough, died in hospital on Friday.

The woman, who has not been named, was seen to walk towards the water near Redcar cinema before she was knocked into the sea by a wave. She was later airlifted to The James Cook University Hospital.

Police said there were no suspicious circumstances surrounding her death and a post-mortem examination was to be carried out.

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