A bison attack derailed Chris Whitehill’s plans to propose to Amber Harris in Yellowstone National Park this week, but it didn’t completely ruin them.
On a silver lining to the ordeal, the couple got engaged at the hospital on July 17 after Harris was severely injured when gored by a bison near Yellowstone Lake.
“I’ve repeated it so many times, it was such a freak accident,” Whitehill told NBC’s “TODAY” show.
Harris, 47, was enjoying morning coffee with Whitehill and her daughter, Rylee Eckbad, when they spotted a pair of bison. One about 50 yards away began to fall and roll on the ground before running toward them, Harris wrote in Facebook.
“We just kept going away, going away,” Whitehill said. “I told Amber, ‘Don’t run.'”
The bison, which can run three times faster than a human, charged at Harris.
“He hit her head on and she went flying,” Whitehill said. KPNX, NBC affiliate. “I think he did a backflip or two in the air, and I was yelling and yelling trying to distract him. He landed pretty hard on his back.”
The National Park Service said in a news release that she was airlifted to Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center. It is the first reported case of a bison goring in the park this year and the first since June 2022, park officials said.
Harris wrote on Facebook that she suffered seven spinal fractures, bilaterally collapsed lungs, and “bruises all over.”
“Glory to God, all my vital organs look good,” he wrote.
She entered the hospital as Whitehill’s girlfriend and will leave as his fiancée after he followed through on her proposal in a much different environment than expected.
“Chris had a beautiful proposal planned this week on a natural bridge, but the three of us have been in the hospital since yesterday morning and I won’t be able to leave anytime soon,” Harris wrote on Facebook. “So my love knelt by my hospital bed last night and formally asked me to be his wife.
“Without hesitation I said yes!”
Harris’ ordeal came after another woman was gored by a bison in Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota last weekend.
While bison attacks are rare, the National Park Service reminds tourists to keep their distance, especially during the summer mating season that runs through mid-August.
