September 29, 2025 • 25 mins
We’re replaying one of our most-loved episodes — for you hunters out there but also for fun! This is definitely a fan favorite.
When a 450-pound grizzly charged his friend, college wrestler Kendall Cummings didn’t run—he fought back. 🐻💥
After a morning practice, Kendall and his teammates set out on a shed-hunting trip in Wyoming. What started as a normal day turned into a fight for survival when a grizzly mauled his friend Brady. Without hesitation, Kendall threw himself into the attack, risking his own life to save his teammate. This is a story of courage, sacrifice, and the kind of love that doesn’t count the cost. Shaped by the values his late mother instilled in him, Kendall’s act of bravery became a living testament to faith, friendship, and hope against impossible odds.
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If you're a fan of true crime but crave a dose of inspiration instead of tales of darkness, The Miracle Files is your perfect alternative. With the same storytelling intensity as true crime podcasts, The Miracle Files delves into the details of each miraculous story, exploring the people and circumstances that turned these moments into something unforgettable. Whether you believe in divine intervention or human perseverance, this podcast will leave you feeling uplifted and amazed.
Website: www.themiraclefiles.com
Podcast/RSS: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-miracle-files/id1714203488
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_miracle_files_podcast
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When a 450-pound grizzly charged his friend, college wrestler Kendall Cummings didn’t run—he fought back. 🐻💥
After a morning practice, Kendall and his teammates set out on a shed-hunting trip in Wyoming. What started as a normal day turned into a fight for survival when a grizzly mauled his friend Brady. Without hesitation, Kendall threw himself into the attack, risking his own life to save his teammate. This is a story of courage, sacrifice, and the kind of love that doesn’t count the cost. Shaped by the values his late mother instilled in him, Kendall’s act of bravery became a living testament to faith, friendship, and hope against impossible odds.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you're a fan of true crime but crave a dose of inspiration instead of tales of darkness, The Miracle Files is your perfect alternative. With the same storytelling intensity as true crime podcasts, The Miracle Files delves into the details of each miraculous story, exploring the people and circumstances that turned these moments into something unforgettable. Whether you believe in divine intervention or human perseverance, this podcast will leave you feeling uplifted and amazed.
Website: www.themiraclefiles.com
Podcast/RSS: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-miracle-files/id1714203488
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_miracle_files_podcast
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.phpid=100093613416005&mibextid=LQQJ4d
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@the.miracle.files?_t=8rB5ooQd482&_r=1
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey all, we know it's hunting season out there for
some of you, so we have a replay episode this week.
It's about a grizzly bear attack.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
So be careful out there.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
And for those of you who are not hunters like
me and Emily, just enjoy this episode again because it's
one of our all time favorites, and then make sure
you come back next week. We have an episode about
a mother who drives into a river in her van.
She's got her children in the van with her. It
is an insane episode, but so good, so faith building,
(00:30):
so make sure you come back next week, but for now,
enjoy this episode.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
As Kendall watched his friend's arms snap under the weight
of the bear, Kendall faced a gut wrenching decision run
for his own life or risk everything to save his friend.
This is the Miracle Files.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
I'm Emily Jones and I'm Holly Worthington. We're two sisters
who love a captain true story, but we're also seeking
more light in our lives.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
So we're on a mission to find and share unforgettable,
uplifting stories of God's miracles. We hope you'll join us
on this journey.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
Welcome, back to the Miracle Files. My husband Blake calls
this our hunting season episode.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
It's a little scary, just to get you a little
nervous out there. Cautious is probably a better cautious. So
this is about a young athlete. He's a wrestler, a
collegiate wrestler, and his name is Kendall Cummings. And you
are going to love this kid by the end of
the story. I promise you really will. He is incredible.
(01:43):
So let's dive in. Let's go. Kendall Cummings, at nineteen
years of age, was both a business administration student and
a wrestling athlete at Northwest College in Powell, Wyoming. On
October fifteenth, twenty twenty two, his day started off with
(02:04):
an early Saturday morning wrestling practice. It was a beautiful
fall day, the sun warm and bright, the air cool
and crisp. In fact, Kendall's coach encouraged his team to
get out and enjoy the weather.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
Coach Ziggler told us it was an awesome day and
we should probably be outside, So we decided we were
going to go looking for antlers.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
Every year, deer shed their antlers and shed hunting, as
it's called was one of Kendall's favorite pastimes, so with
Coach Sigler's encouragement, Kendall and three of his wrestling friends, Brady, Gus,
and Orrin headed up some mountains just twenty miles outside
of Yellowstone National Park. They started shed hunting around eleven
(02:52):
AM and spent the day hiking through the woods. They
had some success, and soon Kendall's backpack held a couple
of nice large antlers. As the day wore on, the
sun began to sink behind the pine trees. It was
now about five thirty PM and the four young men
decided it was time to head home. As they started
(03:13):
the hike down the mountain, the friends split up. Kendall
and Brady wanted to take their time and look for
antlers on the way down. Guss and Orrin, carrying most
of the supplies, including all of the bear spray, felt
ready to go and hiked ahead. Kendall and Brady walked
down game trails and hiking paths until they came to
(03:35):
an area that caused them both to slow their walk.
Towering trees loomed overhead were those claw marks on the trees.
As Brady scanned the ground for bear scat. He stopped
and said nervously, there are a lot of signs of
bear hair, and that's when it happened.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
And as soon as he said that, it was almost
like he was telling the bear to come out of
the trees.
Speaker 4 (04:01):
The bear came out as soon as he said that.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
In not just any bear, and approximately four hundred and
fifty pound grizzly bear. Black bears can be dangerous, but
grizzly bears are much more aggressive. Grizzlies can stand up
to ten feet tall on their hind legs. Their scythe
like claws can be up to three inches long. They
(04:25):
are truly built to be nature's killing machines. And this
was what Kendall and Brady now faced head on. Without
any warning, the bear charged at Brady.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
It happened quick, It got him. He put his arm
up to kind of protect himself, and the bear broke
his arm and knocked him onto the ground and kind
of pushed him up against a rock.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
Kendall watched all of this in terror. He froze, not
knowing what to do. His eyes searched the ground for
some kind of weapon. He picked up rocks and sticks
and threw them at the bear, but the grizzly didn't
even flinch. It continued to shred Brady's flesh with its long,
razor sharp claws. Kendall desperately searched for a better weapon,
(05:16):
and then he remembered the antlers in his backpack. They
were hard and sharp and could be used as a weapon.
He reached over his shoulder to his backpack. He felt
one of the antlers in his hand and pulled it
with all of his might, but to his horror, it
was stuck. It wouldn't budge. He pulled again, but he
(05:37):
couldn't get the antler free. It was two tangled up
with the other antler and wedged tightly in his backpack.
He had to think fast, and that's when Kendall made
a very difficult decision.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
I do remember turning and thinking like maybe I should run.
Speaker 4 (05:55):
I could get out of here.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
It seemed everything inside of him was screaming that he
should run to safety. At the same time, Kendall imagined
how it would feel to know his friend Brady had
died at the hands of a grizzly bear. Something even stronger,
something valiant and kind and brave, spoke louder inside Kendall's heart.
(06:18):
He wouldn't run, No, he refused to do it. As
much as he wanted to escape, he wouldn't abandon his friend.
So instead, he did the unthinkable.
Speaker 3 (06:30):
And I decided to jump down, and I grabbed the
bear off of Brady pulled on it, and it didn't
even move as like it kind of looked at me, like,
what the heck's pulling on my ear? And I remember
he just had like little teeny tiny black eyes and
they're all black.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
The grizzly turned its beady eyes towards Kendall, its putrid
breath feeling Kendall's nostrils. Realizing he had succeeded in deflecting
the bear's attention from Brady, Kendall could only think of
one thing to do.
Speaker 3 (07:09):
Run, So I turned and started to run, but I
only got maybe like five six steps out and turned around.
The bar knocked me onto the ground and pushed me
into that deep, thick stuff. It was kind of like
a corn maze. You could only see like pathways where
the animals would walk through in.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
The thick brush. The grizzly growled and chomped with its
deadly jaws and sharp teeth at Kendall's body.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
I was sticking my hands in its mouth to kind
of protect everything else. I was just trying to make
sure he didn't bite anything significant. But after a little while,
it just ran off and all it got was my hands.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
Kendall's hands were in bad shape, but he felt relieved
that the grizzly was gone at last and that he
had somehow survived. He waited for a moment, and then
his thoughts immediately turned to his friend.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
And that's when I started calling out to Brady, wondering
if he was all right or where he was at.
But uh, he'd run down the mountain after I got
the bear off of him.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
Brady had run to get help from their friends, dialing
nine one one. As he rushed through the thick forest,
he finally reached Orrin and Guss.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
He was like, there was a bear and it's got Kendle.
Speaker 4 (08:35):
We got to go.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
Meanwhile, Kendall knew he needed to get out of there
as well. He got to his feet. If he hurried,
he could get down the mountain before sunset. His friends
were probably pretty worried about him, and boy did he
have a tale to tell. But right then Kendall heard
a terrifying sound, the grizzly snarling and snorting right behind.
(09:01):
The bear wasn't finished again, Kendall ran the bear chase.
Kendled deeper into the thick underbrush, into a place where
the world was reduced to narrow pathways carved by animals,
through the dense foliage, through a labyrinth the maze of
game trails. Kendall couldn't tell where the grizzly was, but
(09:24):
he knew it was close by. And then the bear
circled around and stepped into the trail just in front.
Speaker 3 (09:30):
Of him, so I couldn't really see anything, just these pathways,
and I saw the bears had come into one of
those openings, and then turned and looked at me, and
then rushed me again.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
This time the grizzly would make sure Kendall didn't escape.
The bear's jaws and paws closed around Kendall's arm and leg,
lifting him off the ground like a rag doll. The
pain was indescribable. Kendall felt his bones creak under the pressure,
his muscles tear as the bear shook him violently like
(10:03):
a dog would with a toy. It bit down on
his head and sharp teeth punctured his cheek and neck.
As blood gushed out of his wounds, Kendall felt a
sickening pressure building in his skull.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
It bit my head and it was almost like when
you get a water bottle and twist it up super
tight and then poke a hole in it and all
the pressure kind of comes out. I felt it go
into my head and I imagine just all that pressure
went out, and I definitely thought that was it.
Speaker 4 (10:38):
So I just kind of laid there.
Speaker 3 (10:40):
And the bear had its paw on my face and
kind of was pushing pretty hard.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
In that moment, Kendall knew he could do nothing more
than surrender. He lay still with its giant paws. The
bear pushed dirt onto Kendall's body.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
And I was just laying and I think that it
thought I was dead. It buried me, so it was
going to save me for later.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
And then the grizzly disappeared once again, only this time
Kendall didn't dare, make a sound or move a muscle. Instead,
he lay perfectly still under the heap of dirt. His
first thought after a few moments, was of his mother.
He reached for his cell phone. He longed to hear
her voice.
Speaker 3 (11:30):
I laid there for a minute, and I definitely thought
I was going to die. I got my phone out
to call my mom, but the buried bit into my
phone and my phone was broken. So I kind of
kept laying there, and after a while I unclipped my backpack.
I remember it hurt so bad because all my fingers
(11:50):
were chewed on and bit and tore the bice up
off my arm. But I kind of slithered out of
my backpack, and when I stood up, it.
Speaker 4 (12:00):
Heard a lot from the one on my leg.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
But kind of hobbled down the mountain, like maybe a
quarter mile, maybe a half mile somewhere in there.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
As he limped down through the thick brush, Kendall's nerves
were on edge. He worried every sound could be the
bear returning. He faced the bear twice, and he knew
he wouldn't escape again if the bear returned.
Speaker 3 (12:27):
I was pretty scared the whole time. After I got
up and went too, I was kept checking over my shoulder.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
And then he heard it a voice. He saw his
friends on the trail before him. Relief washed over him.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
I saw my buddy Gus, and I was yelling at him.
But I had kind of a puncture right in my
throat was making it hard. But I finally got him,
and I was still losing a lot of blood and everything,
but kind when I saw them, I was I was like,
you know, think I'm gonna be all right.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
The adrenaline had borne off. Kendall was in intense pain
and bleeding heavily. While Kendall had managed to hobble to
the base of the mountain, the trailhead, where an emergency
crew waited, was still three miles away, and in that moment,
three miles felt like an eternity. Kendall needed help now,
he couldn't wait, and then, miraculously he didn't have to.
(13:28):
A rancher who lived near the foot of the mountain
had received a cell phone alert about a bear attack
on the mountain. He had responded immediately and driven his
side by side up the base of the mountain where
the boys had gathered.
Speaker 3 (13:41):
So they were at the bottom of the hill with
their side by side waiting for us. And then they
wrapped a blanket around my head and loaded me up
on their side by side and they drove us like
right three miles to the trailhead where the public has
to walk in from and then they gave us a
ride to the ambulance, and then the ambulance kind of
checked us out, and then they got a helicopter there,
(14:05):
and the helicopter took me to bailings.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
It still seems surreal to Kendall that he had been
attacked by a grizzly bear. He now sat in a
sterile hospital, his hair and head completely blood red, a
huge gash in his cheek, puncture wounds in his neck, head, arms, leg,
and chest. His scalp had been shredded by the grizzly
(14:31):
sharp claws and teeth. But at least now he was
in a safe place where he could get the help
he needed. The last thing Kendall remembered that night was
heading into surgery. He closed his eyes as the anesthetics
took effect.
Speaker 3 (14:47):
They did a plastic surgeon on my face and head,
and then they just did, I guess, a pretty standard
surgery on my legs and my bicep, and stitches in
all my hands and stuff. But I think I had
like seventy some staples in my head, and they said,
like hundreds of stitches everywhere, a bunch of my face,
my arm, my leg my hands.
Speaker 2 (15:08):
Kendall had begun his road to recovery, but sadly, he
wasn't able to wrestle the rest of that year. Even so,
he remained wrestling partners with Brady. Brady's arm held up
enough for him to be able to wrestle, and Kendall
couldn't have been more happy when his friend took fifth
place in the national tournament.
Speaker 3 (15:28):
He went and he All American at the National Tournament,
so it was super cool to watch him do that.
Speaker 4 (15:34):
He wore my shoes and everything is kind of cool.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
Kendall says he experienced several miracles, from the way things
played out with the bear to the fact that the
Grizzlies puncture wounds just missed critical arteries in his neck.
Speaker 3 (15:48):
Yeah, the one on my leg too, missed a pretty
good one. I don't think a lot of people do
survive those kind of things, and I think that I
definitely got lucky.
Speaker 4 (16:00):
I would say it was a miracle.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
He says it was also a miracle that the rancher
was waiting for him at the base of the mountain.
With the severity of his injuries, Kendall doesn't know if
he would have made the three mile hike out. If
the rancher hadn't responded the way he did, this story
would have ended very differently without good people doing extraordinary things.
(16:26):
And while God is in control, sometimes good hearts are
also part of what makes a miracle happen, and for Brady,
Kendall's courageous actions were his miracle. When asked if this
experience has changed Kendall, he expressed that it's helped him
to understand how precious life is, and then he humbly
(16:48):
said this, I feel.
Speaker 3 (16:50):
Like I've always been a pretty all right guy. But
I try and help people out and stuff all the time,
and whenever I can, whenever I see somebody that needs
something anything like that, I try and help him out.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
Sometimes a kind heart is one of the greatest miracles
of all, and Kendall's heart is clearly both kind and brave.
Speaker 3 (17:13):
Super grateful for everybody. And I always tell everybody that
I wouldn't change anything.
Speaker 4 (17:19):
I think it worked out just right.
Speaker 3 (17:21):
I think if I changed any part of it, Brady
might not be here.
Speaker 4 (17:25):
Maybe I might not be here.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
Maybe one of my buddies had run clear up the
hill to find me and they got it to acting.
I wouldn't change anything.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
In March of twenty twenty four, the Carnegie Hero Fund
announced that Kendall will be awarded a Carnegie Medal for Heroism,
the highest honor a North American civilian can receive for heroism.
If you ask Kendall if he's a hero, this is
how he responds.
Speaker 4 (17:53):
I guess.
Speaker 3 (17:55):
Everybody says, so I feel like, really, I was just.
Speaker 4 (17:59):
Doing the right thing.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
Kendall will always carry the memories of that October day
with him, the feel of the bear's course, for the
sound of its growl, the terror that gripped his heart.
He still has nightmare sometimes, but he also carries with
him the knowledge that his decision to do the right
thing allowed an incredible miracle to take place. So were
(18:29):
we right or were we right?
Speaker 1 (18:31):
About Kendall?
Speaker 2 (18:32):
I know he is such a good person. You can
just tell he has such a good heart.
Speaker 1 (18:37):
And I love how happy he was for Brady's success
at the wrestling tournament.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
I know I love that too. There was no jealousy
or animosity. He just was genuinely happy for him, which
is a really cool character trait to be happy for
other people when you can't have something that you want.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
And we actually have a really sweet SoundBite that we'd
like to share.
Speaker 3 (19:01):
I think maybe for Brady it was pretty lucky that
I had been with him. He tells me all the time.
When he introduces me, he says, this is a kid
that saved my life.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
So I love that. I know I love it too,
because really he was Brady's hero. I mean, he hadn't
done what he did, Brady probably would have died.
Speaker 1 (19:23):
So can we talk about that rancher too, because that,
to me was amazing.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
I know, I think that if he had not answered
the call, Kendall would have been left with a three
mile hike on a leg that had just been bitten
by a bear. I can't imagine. Yeah, such a merciful act.
In my opinion, it really was. I think we also
want to talk about what to do if you were
(19:49):
ever attacked by a grizzly bear. I mean, heaven forbid,
probably won't happen, But in case you ever do come
across a bear, what do you do, Holly? What do
you do?
Speaker 3 (20:00):
Well?
Speaker 1 (20:01):
First, you don't forget your bear.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
Spray numero uno.
Speaker 1 (20:05):
Yes, by the way, I actually sleep with bear spray
on my nightstand because I used to listen to all.
Speaker 2 (20:10):
Those too many podcasts about murder. Yes, I know same.
I always run with bear spray because you never know
what's gonna jump out when you're out there.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
Carry like one of those big old things a b No.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
I'm sorry, carry pepper spray. Pepper spray. I just like
lug it on my shoulder like a fire hydrant, like
a five pound weight. It makes my exercise more efficient.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
You're like doing some arm lifts with them.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
So yeah, yeah, pearls. Anyway, if you are ever attacked
by a bear, it's very different if you're attacked by
a black bear versus a grizzly bear. So if you're
attacked by a black bear, you should fight back, make
yourself look big, loud, scary, and usually they'll run away.
But if you're attacked by a grizzly bear, I mean,
(20:57):
as you can see from Candle's story, Yeah, even a
collegiate wrestler no match for a grizzly bear. So you
do not attempt to fight the grizzly bear. Just play dead,
bladad play dead.
Speaker 4 (21:10):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:10):
When we first heard about this story, someone told us
it was like a wrestler and a grizzly bear, and
we're like, somebody wrestled.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
He's going to wrestle the grizzly bear. No, nobody wrestles
the grizzly bear. Nobody. Yep, nobody's that strong.
Speaker 1 (21:23):
So, yeah, the National Park Service has a website so
if you go to MPs dot gov and then just
search bear attacks, it has all sorts of great information
about what to do if you do find yourself in
that situation.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
Right, And is it terrible that whenever I think of
a bear, I always think of dad's bumper. My God,
So our family one day was going to Yellowstone Bear World, Yeah, not.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
To be confused with Yellowstone National Park, right to actually
in Idaho, and they have like this whole big park
with bears and elk and also, yeah, it's really cool.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
It is really fun to drive through. So we were
at bear World and there was this black bear that
was just laying in the middle of the road and
just kind of like taking a nap, and we couldn't
get past it, and so our dad just like thought,
I'm just gonna give it a little nudge with his car,
just tried to barely touch it with his bump it
(22:26):
a little bit. To move it out of the way,
and it bit his bumper.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
Yeah, it did not like that, and its tooth went
right through the bumper.
Speaker 2 (22:35):
It's crazy, I know.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
So I always think about like the person that bought
his car, like, what's.
Speaker 2 (22:42):
In this hole? How did this hole get here? No? No,
no clue. So anyway, you probably guess where we get
our impulsivity from.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
Yes, definitely Dad, not mom. Yeah, I know.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
Okay, one last bear story. Okay, well are we go
one more?
Speaker 4 (23:00):
So?
Speaker 2 (23:00):
I grew up terrified of bears because our sister Julie,
she was kind of obsessed with bears. And we went
to a summer camp and she was a couple of
years older than me, and they told all of us
that there are bears here, and at night your food away, yes,
(23:20):
put your food in the cars so that the bears
can't smell them. Well, Julie wanted to see a bear,
and so when no one was looking, she went and
took all these grapes and she cut them in half,
and she sprinkled them all around our camp, and she
took like breadcrumbs, and she just was crazy. She was
beating the bear. And so the next morning the leaders
(23:43):
are like someone left a bunch of food out and
this bear came through our camp, and so forever, I
was just always afraid that a bear was going to
come eat me because my sister also, let's.
Speaker 1 (23:55):
Just clarify that was Julie, not Holly.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
That's true. Are our other sisters. She she's fun. I
love it anyway. Well, we just want to thank Kendall
for sharing his story with us, and we are so
inspired by just what a good person he is and
that he would literally do anything for anyone.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
Yeah, he really is such a kind of person, and
I know that his parents have to be so proud
of him. And Kennall talked about how this experience, you know,
helped him to appreciate life and how precious life is.
And one of the things that also made him appreciate
that was the fact that his mother passed away last
(24:37):
October of cancer. So so sad it is, Yeah, and
I just keep thinking that his mother has to be
so proud of him, and absolutely clearly she taught him
to be kind and to be brave and to be good, so.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
Right, and so we just wanted to, you know, dedicate
this episode of our podcas cast to her and just
honor her because I'm sure she was an incredible woman.
Speaker 1 (25:06):
Yes, her name was Megan and Cummings. Thank you for
joining us. If you have a miracle to share, contact
us at the Miracle files dot com or find us
on Facebook.
Speaker 2 (25:17):
We're now releasing multiple episodes each month, so subscribe on
your favorite podcast platform and YouTube for amazing video content
as well.
Speaker 1 (25:26):
Join us next time as we discover more of God's miracles,
and don't forget to look for his light in your
own lives.
Hey all, we know it's hunting season out there for
some of you, so we have a replay episode this week.
It's about a grizzly bear attack.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
So be careful out there.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
And for those of you who are not hunters like
me and Emily, just enjoy this episode again because it's
one of our all time favorites, and then make sure
you come back next week. We have an episode about
a mother who drives into a river in her van.
She's got her children in the van with her. It
is an insane episode, but so good, so faith building,
(00:30):
so make sure you come back next week, but for now,
enjoy this episode.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
As Kendall watched his friend's arms snap under the weight
of the bear, Kendall faced a gut wrenching decision run
for his own life or risk everything to save his friend.
This is the Miracle Files.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
I'm Emily Jones and I'm Holly Worthington. We're two sisters
who love a captain true story, but we're also seeking
more light in our lives.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
So we're on a mission to find and share unforgettable,
uplifting stories of God's miracles. We hope you'll join us
on this journey.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
Welcome, back to the Miracle Files. My husband Blake calls
this our hunting season episode.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
It's a little scary, just to get you a little
nervous out there. Cautious is probably a better cautious. So
this is about a young athlete. He's a wrestler, a
collegiate wrestler, and his name is Kendall Cummings. And you
are going to love this kid by the end of
the story. I promise you really will. He is incredible.
(01:43):
So let's dive in. Let's go. Kendall Cummings, at nineteen
years of age, was both a business administration student and
a wrestling athlete at Northwest College in Powell, Wyoming. On
October fifteenth, twenty twenty two, his day started off with
(02:04):
an early Saturday morning wrestling practice. It was a beautiful
fall day, the sun warm and bright, the air cool
and crisp. In fact, Kendall's coach encouraged his team to
get out and enjoy the weather.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
Coach Ziggler told us it was an awesome day and
we should probably be outside, So we decided we were
going to go looking for antlers.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
Every year, deer shed their antlers and shed hunting, as
it's called was one of Kendall's favorite pastimes, so with
Coach Sigler's encouragement, Kendall and three of his wrestling friends, Brady, Gus,
and Orrin headed up some mountains just twenty miles outside
of Yellowstone National Park. They started shed hunting around eleven
(02:52):
AM and spent the day hiking through the woods. They
had some success, and soon Kendall's backpack held a couple
of nice large antlers. As the day wore on, the
sun began to sink behind the pine trees. It was
now about five thirty PM and the four young men
decided it was time to head home. As they started
(03:13):
the hike down the mountain, the friends split up. Kendall
and Brady wanted to take their time and look for
antlers on the way down. Guss and Orrin, carrying most
of the supplies, including all of the bear spray, felt
ready to go and hiked ahead. Kendall and Brady walked
down game trails and hiking paths until they came to
(03:35):
an area that caused them both to slow their walk.
Towering trees loomed overhead were those claw marks on the trees.
As Brady scanned the ground for bear scat. He stopped
and said nervously, there are a lot of signs of
bear hair, and that's when it happened.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
And as soon as he said that, it was almost
like he was telling the bear to come out of
the trees.
Speaker 4 (04:01):
The bear came out as soon as he said that.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
In not just any bear, and approximately four hundred and
fifty pound grizzly bear. Black bears can be dangerous, but
grizzly bears are much more aggressive. Grizzlies can stand up
to ten feet tall on their hind legs. Their scythe
like claws can be up to three inches long. They
(04:25):
are truly built to be nature's killing machines. And this
was what Kendall and Brady now faced head on. Without
any warning, the bear charged at Brady.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
It happened quick, It got him. He put his arm
up to kind of protect himself, and the bear broke
his arm and knocked him onto the ground and kind
of pushed him up against a rock.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
Kendall watched all of this in terror. He froze, not
knowing what to do. His eyes searched the ground for
some kind of weapon. He picked up rocks and sticks
and threw them at the bear, but the grizzly didn't
even flinch. It continued to shred Brady's flesh with its long,
razor sharp claws. Kendall desperately searched for a better weapon,
(05:16):
and then he remembered the antlers in his backpack. They
were hard and sharp and could be used as a weapon.
He reached over his shoulder to his backpack. He felt
one of the antlers in his hand and pulled it
with all of his might, but to his horror, it
was stuck. It wouldn't budge. He pulled again, but he
(05:37):
couldn't get the antler free. It was two tangled up
with the other antler and wedged tightly in his backpack.
He had to think fast, and that's when Kendall made
a very difficult decision.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
I do remember turning and thinking like maybe I should run.
Speaker 4 (05:55):
I could get out of here.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
It seemed everything inside of him was screaming that he
should run to safety. At the same time, Kendall imagined
how it would feel to know his friend Brady had
died at the hands of a grizzly bear. Something even stronger,
something valiant and kind and brave, spoke louder inside Kendall's heart.
(06:18):
He wouldn't run, No, he refused to do it. As
much as he wanted to escape, he wouldn't abandon his friend.
So instead, he did the unthinkable.
Speaker 3 (06:30):
And I decided to jump down, and I grabbed the
bear off of Brady pulled on it, and it didn't
even move as like it kind of looked at me, like,
what the heck's pulling on my ear? And I remember
he just had like little teeny tiny black eyes and
they're all black.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
The grizzly turned its beady eyes towards Kendall, its putrid
breath feeling Kendall's nostrils. Realizing he had succeeded in deflecting
the bear's attention from Brady, Kendall could only think of
one thing to do.
Speaker 3 (07:09):
Run, So I turned and started to run, but I
only got maybe like five six steps out and turned around.
The bar knocked me onto the ground and pushed me
into that deep, thick stuff. It was kind of like
a corn maze. You could only see like pathways where
the animals would walk through in.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
The thick brush. The grizzly growled and chomped with its
deadly jaws and sharp teeth at Kendall's body.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
I was sticking my hands in its mouth to kind
of protect everything else. I was just trying to make
sure he didn't bite anything significant. But after a little while,
it just ran off and all it got was my hands.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
Kendall's hands were in bad shape, but he felt relieved
that the grizzly was gone at last and that he
had somehow survived. He waited for a moment, and then
his thoughts immediately turned to his friend.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
And that's when I started calling out to Brady, wondering
if he was all right or where he was at.
But uh, he'd run down the mountain after I got
the bear off of him.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
Brady had run to get help from their friends, dialing
nine one one. As he rushed through the thick forest,
he finally reached Orrin and Guss.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
He was like, there was a bear and it's got Kendle.
Speaker 4 (08:35):
We got to go.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
Meanwhile, Kendall knew he needed to get out of there
as well. He got to his feet. If he hurried,
he could get down the mountain before sunset. His friends
were probably pretty worried about him, and boy did he
have a tale to tell. But right then Kendall heard
a terrifying sound, the grizzly snarling and snorting right behind.
(09:01):
The bear wasn't finished again, Kendall ran the bear chase.
Kendled deeper into the thick underbrush, into a place where
the world was reduced to narrow pathways carved by animals,
through the dense foliage, through a labyrinth the maze of
game trails. Kendall couldn't tell where the grizzly was, but
(09:24):
he knew it was close by. And then the bear
circled around and stepped into the trail just in front.
Speaker 3 (09:30):
Of him, so I couldn't really see anything, just these pathways,
and I saw the bears had come into one of
those openings, and then turned and looked at me, and
then rushed me again.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
This time the grizzly would make sure Kendall didn't escape.
The bear's jaws and paws closed around Kendall's arm and leg,
lifting him off the ground like a rag doll. The
pain was indescribable. Kendall felt his bones creak under the pressure,
his muscles tear as the bear shook him violently like
(10:03):
a dog would with a toy. It bit down on
his head and sharp teeth punctured his cheek and neck.
As blood gushed out of his wounds, Kendall felt a
sickening pressure building in his skull.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
It bit my head and it was almost like when
you get a water bottle and twist it up super
tight and then poke a hole in it and all
the pressure kind of comes out. I felt it go
into my head and I imagine just all that pressure
went out, and I definitely thought that was it.
Speaker 4 (10:38):
So I just kind of laid there.
Speaker 3 (10:40):
And the bear had its paw on my face and
kind of was pushing pretty hard.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
In that moment, Kendall knew he could do nothing more
than surrender. He lay still with its giant paws. The
bear pushed dirt onto Kendall's body.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
And I was just laying and I think that it
thought I was dead. It buried me, so it was
going to save me for later.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
And then the grizzly disappeared once again, only this time
Kendall didn't dare, make a sound or move a muscle. Instead,
he lay perfectly still under the heap of dirt. His
first thought after a few moments, was of his mother.
He reached for his cell phone. He longed to hear
her voice.
Speaker 3 (11:30):
I laid there for a minute, and I definitely thought
I was going to die. I got my phone out
to call my mom, but the buried bit into my
phone and my phone was broken. So I kind of
kept laying there, and after a while I unclipped my backpack.
I remember it hurt so bad because all my fingers
(11:50):
were chewed on and bit and tore the bice up
off my arm. But I kind of slithered out of
my backpack, and when I stood up, it.
Speaker 4 (12:00):
Heard a lot from the one on my leg.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
But kind of hobbled down the mountain, like maybe a
quarter mile, maybe a half mile somewhere in there.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
As he limped down through the thick brush, Kendall's nerves
were on edge. He worried every sound could be the
bear returning. He faced the bear twice, and he knew
he wouldn't escape again if the bear returned.
Speaker 3 (12:27):
I was pretty scared the whole time. After I got
up and went too, I was kept checking over my shoulder.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
And then he heard it a voice. He saw his
friends on the trail before him. Relief washed over him.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
I saw my buddy Gus, and I was yelling at him.
But I had kind of a puncture right in my
throat was making it hard. But I finally got him,
and I was still losing a lot of blood and everything,
but kind when I saw them, I was I was like,
you know, think I'm gonna be all right.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
The adrenaline had borne off. Kendall was in intense pain
and bleeding heavily. While Kendall had managed to hobble to
the base of the mountain, the trailhead, where an emergency
crew waited, was still three miles away, and in that moment,
three miles felt like an eternity. Kendall needed help now,
he couldn't wait, and then, miraculously he didn't have to.
(13:28):
A rancher who lived near the foot of the mountain
had received a cell phone alert about a bear attack
on the mountain. He had responded immediately and driven his
side by side up the base of the mountain where
the boys had gathered.
Speaker 3 (13:41):
So they were at the bottom of the hill with
their side by side waiting for us. And then they
wrapped a blanket around my head and loaded me up
on their side by side and they drove us like
right three miles to the trailhead where the public has
to walk in from and then they gave us a
ride to the ambulance, and then the ambulance kind of
checked us out, and then they got a helicopter there,
(14:05):
and the helicopter took me to bailings.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
It still seems surreal to Kendall that he had been
attacked by a grizzly bear. He now sat in a
sterile hospital, his hair and head completely blood red, a
huge gash in his cheek, puncture wounds in his neck, head, arms, leg,
and chest. His scalp had been shredded by the grizzly
(14:31):
sharp claws and teeth. But at least now he was
in a safe place where he could get the help
he needed. The last thing Kendall remembered that night was
heading into surgery. He closed his eyes as the anesthetics
took effect.
Speaker 3 (14:47):
They did a plastic surgeon on my face and head,
and then they just did, I guess, a pretty standard
surgery on my legs and my bicep, and stitches in
all my hands and stuff. But I think I had
like seventy some staples in my head, and they said,
like hundreds of stitches everywhere, a bunch of my face,
my arm, my leg my hands.
Speaker 2 (15:08):
Kendall had begun his road to recovery, but sadly, he
wasn't able to wrestle the rest of that year. Even so,
he remained wrestling partners with Brady. Brady's arm held up
enough for him to be able to wrestle, and Kendall
couldn't have been more happy when his friend took fifth
place in the national tournament.
Speaker 3 (15:28):
He went and he All American at the National Tournament,
so it was super cool to watch him do that.
Speaker 4 (15:34):
He wore my shoes and everything is kind of cool.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
Kendall says he experienced several miracles, from the way things
played out with the bear to the fact that the
Grizzlies puncture wounds just missed critical arteries in his neck.
Speaker 3 (15:48):
Yeah, the one on my leg too, missed a pretty
good one. I don't think a lot of people do
survive those kind of things, and I think that I
definitely got lucky.
Speaker 4 (16:00):
I would say it was a miracle.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
He says it was also a miracle that the rancher
was waiting for him at the base of the mountain.
With the severity of his injuries, Kendall doesn't know if
he would have made the three mile hike out. If
the rancher hadn't responded the way he did, this story
would have ended very differently without good people doing extraordinary things.
(16:26):
And while God is in control, sometimes good hearts are
also part of what makes a miracle happen, and for Brady,
Kendall's courageous actions were his miracle. When asked if this
experience has changed Kendall, he expressed that it's helped him
to understand how precious life is, and then he humbly
(16:48):
said this, I feel.
Speaker 3 (16:50):
Like I've always been a pretty all right guy. But
I try and help people out and stuff all the time,
and whenever I can, whenever I see somebody that needs
something anything like that, I try and help him out.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
Sometimes a kind heart is one of the greatest miracles
of all, and Kendall's heart is clearly both kind and brave.
Speaker 3 (17:13):
Super grateful for everybody. And I always tell everybody that
I wouldn't change anything.
Speaker 4 (17:19):
I think it worked out just right.
Speaker 3 (17:21):
I think if I changed any part of it, Brady
might not be here.
Speaker 4 (17:25):
Maybe I might not be here.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
Maybe one of my buddies had run clear up the
hill to find me and they got it to acting.
I wouldn't change anything.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
In March of twenty twenty four, the Carnegie Hero Fund
announced that Kendall will be awarded a Carnegie Medal for Heroism,
the highest honor a North American civilian can receive for heroism.
If you ask Kendall if he's a hero, this is
how he responds.
Speaker 4 (17:53):
I guess.
Speaker 3 (17:55):
Everybody says, so I feel like, really, I was just.
Speaker 4 (17:59):
Doing the right thing.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
Kendall will always carry the memories of that October day
with him, the feel of the bear's course, for the
sound of its growl, the terror that gripped his heart.
He still has nightmare sometimes, but he also carries with
him the knowledge that his decision to do the right
thing allowed an incredible miracle to take place. So were
(18:29):
we right or were we right?
Speaker 1 (18:31):
About Kendall?
Speaker 2 (18:32):
I know he is such a good person. You can
just tell he has such a good heart.
Speaker 1 (18:37):
And I love how happy he was for Brady's success
at the wrestling tournament.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
I know I love that too. There was no jealousy
or animosity. He just was genuinely happy for him, which
is a really cool character trait to be happy for
other people when you can't have something that you want.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
And we actually have a really sweet SoundBite that we'd
like to share.
Speaker 3 (19:01):
I think maybe for Brady it was pretty lucky that
I had been with him. He tells me all the time.
When he introduces me, he says, this is a kid
that saved my life.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
So I love that. I know I love it too,
because really he was Brady's hero. I mean, he hadn't
done what he did, Brady probably would have died.
Speaker 1 (19:23):
So can we talk about that rancher too, because that,
to me was amazing.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
I know, I think that if he had not answered
the call, Kendall would have been left with a three
mile hike on a leg that had just been bitten
by a bear. I can't imagine. Yeah, such a merciful act.
In my opinion, it really was. I think we also
want to talk about what to do if you were
(19:49):
ever attacked by a grizzly bear. I mean, heaven forbid,
probably won't happen, But in case you ever do come
across a bear, what do you do, Holly? What do
you do?
Speaker 3 (20:00):
Well?
Speaker 1 (20:01):
First, you don't forget your bear.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
Spray numero uno.
Speaker 1 (20:05):
Yes, by the way, I actually sleep with bear spray
on my nightstand because I used to listen to all.
Speaker 2 (20:10):
Those too many podcasts about murder. Yes, I know same.
I always run with bear spray because you never know
what's gonna jump out when you're out there.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
Carry like one of those big old things a b No.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
I'm sorry, carry pepper spray. Pepper spray. I just like
lug it on my shoulder like a fire hydrant, like
a five pound weight. It makes my exercise more efficient.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
You're like doing some arm lifts with them.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
So yeah, yeah, pearls. Anyway, if you are ever attacked
by a bear, it's very different if you're attacked by
a black bear versus a grizzly bear. So if you're
attacked by a black bear, you should fight back, make
yourself look big, loud, scary, and usually they'll run away.
But if you're attacked by a grizzly bear, I mean,
(20:57):
as you can see from Candle's story, Yeah, even a
collegiate wrestler no match for a grizzly bear. So you
do not attempt to fight the grizzly bear. Just play dead,
bladad play dead.
Speaker 4 (21:10):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:10):
When we first heard about this story, someone told us
it was like a wrestler and a grizzly bear, and
we're like, somebody wrestled.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
He's going to wrestle the grizzly bear. No, nobody wrestles
the grizzly bear. Nobody. Yep, nobody's that strong.
Speaker 1 (21:23):
So, yeah, the National Park Service has a website so
if you go to MPs dot gov and then just
search bear attacks, it has all sorts of great information
about what to do if you do find yourself in
that situation.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
Right, And is it terrible that whenever I think of
a bear, I always think of dad's bumper. My God,
So our family one day was going to Yellowstone Bear World, Yeah, not.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
To be confused with Yellowstone National Park, right to actually
in Idaho, and they have like this whole big park
with bears and elk and also, yeah, it's really cool.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
It is really fun to drive through. So we were
at bear World and there was this black bear that
was just laying in the middle of the road and
just kind of like taking a nap, and we couldn't
get past it, and so our dad just like thought,
I'm just gonna give it a little nudge with his car,
just tried to barely touch it with his bump it
(22:26):
a little bit. To move it out of the way,
and it bit his bumper.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
Yeah, it did not like that, and its tooth went
right through the bumper.
Speaker 2 (22:35):
It's crazy, I know.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
So I always think about like the person that bought
his car, like, what's.
Speaker 2 (22:42):
In this hole? How did this hole get here? No? No,
no clue. So anyway, you probably guess where we get
our impulsivity from.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
Yes, definitely Dad, not mom. Yeah, I know.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
Okay, one last bear story. Okay, well are we go
one more?
Speaker 4 (23:00):
So?
Speaker 2 (23:00):
I grew up terrified of bears because our sister Julie,
she was kind of obsessed with bears. And we went
to a summer camp and she was a couple of
years older than me, and they told all of us
that there are bears here, and at night your food away, yes,
(23:20):
put your food in the cars so that the bears
can't smell them. Well, Julie wanted to see a bear,
and so when no one was looking, she went and
took all these grapes and she cut them in half,
and she sprinkled them all around our camp, and she
took like breadcrumbs, and she just was crazy. She was
beating the bear. And so the next morning the leaders
(23:43):
are like someone left a bunch of food out and
this bear came through our camp, and so forever, I
was just always afraid that a bear was going to
come eat me because my sister also, let's.
Speaker 1 (23:55):
Just clarify that was Julie, not Holly.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
That's true. Are our other sisters. She she's fun. I
love it anyway. Well, we just want to thank Kendall
for sharing his story with us, and we are so
inspired by just what a good person he is and
that he would literally do anything for anyone.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
Yeah, he really is such a kind of person, and
I know that his parents have to be so proud
of him. And Kennall talked about how this experience, you know,
helped him to appreciate life and how precious life is.
And one of the things that also made him appreciate
that was the fact that his mother passed away last
(24:37):
October of cancer. So so sad it is, Yeah, and
I just keep thinking that his mother has to be
so proud of him, and absolutely clearly she taught him
to be kind and to be brave and to be good, so.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
Right, and so we just wanted to, you know, dedicate
this episode of our podcas cast to her and just
honor her because I'm sure she was an incredible woman.
Speaker 1 (25:06):
Yes, her name was Megan and Cummings. Thank you for
joining us. If you have a miracle to share, contact
us at the Miracle files dot com or find us
on Facebook.
Speaker 2 (25:17):
We're now releasing multiple episodes each month, so subscribe on
your favorite podcast platform and YouTube for amazing video content
as well.
Speaker 1 (25:26):
Join us next time as we discover more of God's miracles,
and don't forget to look for his light in your
own lives.
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