A search and rescue team in Kentucky started praying on the last day of their two-week search for a lost hiker, at which time he was miraculously found alive.
"It is truly a miracle that Mr. Hern was found after 14 days and 12 days without any food or water," says Wolfe County Search & Rescue Team on Facebook. "We were persistent in our search, but hope was fading."
Scott Hern from Ohio was out in the Daniel Boone National Forest when he went missing just over two weeks ago.
The search and rescue team would look for 14 days before giving up the search for the Hern. It was on the 14th day of searching that one of the rescue team, Eric Wolterman, decided to pray for the first time in a long time.
"I am not a very religious person, but, yesterday morning, I woke up and said a prayer for Scott Hern and his family," Wolterman said in a statement shared by the search and rescue team. "To be honest, praying isn’t something that I do too often. We were working on this operation since Tuesday, and most of the team went into the day pretty much with the thought that this was going to be a recovery mission. So I said a prayer knowing the family would probably be getting some very sad news that day."
After checking Hern's journal of where he had been before, the search team had decided to look near Bell Falls again, and this time they found a muddy footprint.
"We stopped to regroup, and one of the people on the team heard a very faint noise," Wolterman wrote. "We paused and we shouted, ‘Who is that?’ Thinking it was another search team. I then heard, ‘Help.’ We took off in the direction. As we got closer, [we] asked what his name was and he [said], ‘Scott Hern.’ I have never moved faster uphill in my entire life."
Wolterman told Hern who he was as he approached the lethargic man and told him he was now safe.
"He looked at me and said, ‘Thank you so much. Will you give me a hug?' I got teary-eyed and gave him a big hug. I think it was the best hug of both of our lives."
A hoist system and helicopter were brought in to give Hern the best care and fastest rescue to the nearest hospital, where Hern is currently recovering.