My Story

On July 14, 2003, Dan Bigley was wrapping up a stellar day of salmon fishing along Alaska’s Russian River when a grizzly came tearing around a corner in the trail so fast it had to dip its shoulder to make the turn. He dove for cover, but it had him before he hit the ground. Dragged face-down over rocks and roots, then chewed and raked from ankles to shoulders, Dan tried to play dead. Just when he thought the bear was done, it flipped him over and bit him across the face. A loud, hideous pop. Then quiet.

Until that day in July, Dan was a backcountry adventurer living in Girdwood, Alaska, a man happiest operating out of a backpack, navigating through life via topo map, and exploring wild places with his dog. A 25-year-old natural history graduate of Prescott College, he had a job he loved taking troubled kids on outdoor excursions. The week before, he’d bought a cabin high in the Chugach Mountains with view that went on forever. And he’d just fallen in love. After a year of being intrigued by a woman named Amber, they’d just spent their first night together. When morning came, he didn’t want to leave her. But the red salmon were running, and he and a buddy had made plans. He promised he’d call as soon as he got back from fishing.

Late that night, while Amber was waiting for a call that would never come, Dan was lying on the forest floor, fading in and out of consciousness, tempted to let go. Long before rescuers got to him he promised himself that if he fought and lived, he would never look back and regret it.
He didn’t know the mauling had left him blind.
“Upper nose, eyes, forehead anatomy unrecognizable,” as the Medevac report put it.

Weeks later, Dan woke up from a coma to learn he was blind and disfigured. He was not the same man Amber fell in love with that summer. She could have quietly slipped out of his life. No one would have blamed her, least of all Dan. Focused entirely on healing, he set her free. Torn apart by tragedy, family drama, paralyzing pain, and inconceivable loss, Dan and Amber gradually found their way back to each other, and fell in love all over again. They are now married, and have a 4-year-old son and a 2-year-old daughter.

Redirecting all the energy he’d once poured into skiing, kayaking, hiking, and climbing, Dan devoted himself to his family and went back to school to get a master’s degree in social work. He’s now director of foster care for Denali Family Services, an Anchorage nonprofit counseling center serving emotionally disturbed children and their families. He gives inspirational talks to groups around the country about how he learned to move beyond the bear to embrace a new future.

Dan has never gone back on the promise he made to himself the night he came so close to dying. And he returns to that spot on the Russian River now and then to remind himself how lucky he is to be alive.

Dan and long-time Alaska journalist, Debra McKinney, are in the process of writing a book that tells his story. Tentatively titled “Beyond the Bear,” the book will be published by St. Martin’s Press, with its release set for summer 2012. The book is a story of courage, spirit, and tenacious will. Of medical miracles, family healing, and learning to live as a blind man. And of Dan and Amber’s enduring love for one another.