Dog Warms Master, 88, After Fall

With his faithful dog snuggled beside him, an 88-year-old man wearing only a light sweater over his clothes survived for hours in the cold and snow.

David Lea was knocked unconscious early Tuesday, possibly before dawn, when he slipped and fell on the partially enclosed back porch of his rural home.

His son, Clarence Lea, thought he was dead when he found him that afternoon.

“He had frost all over him and was rigid, just like he was frozen,” Clarence Lea, 63, said Friday.

Temperatures were only around 20 in the afternoon, and about 6 inches of snow had fallen throughout the day. Lea’s body temperature was a dangerously low 80 degrees.

Lea was in stable condition Friday in the intensive care unit, recovering from hypothermia and frostbite. He had seven stitches above his left eye from the cut he suffered during his fall.

Clarence Lea said his father was wearing only his sweater over a flannel shirt, pants, shoes and socks when he fell. He credits his dad’s good shape - and his 25-pound mutt Benji - for keeping him alive.

“I’m sure that dog helped,” he said. “It’s fuzzy, and stayed with him.”