The Associated Press
FAIRBANKS, Alaska — The family of a 73-year-old Alaska man who fell from a tree after rescuing a cat last month decided to have his breathing tube removed.
Joseph Fletcher of Fairbanks has been in a Seattle hospital since suffering a head injury, a torn aorta and broken ribs in last month’s fall.
In an e-mail to the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, daughter Rebecca Fletcher Bafus said the decision to have the tube removed over the weekend was not easy, but it’s what her dad would want. Doctors estimate Fletcher may live a few days before succumbing to respiratory failure.
Fletcher, the co-owner of J and E Trees, fell 25 feet after letting the cat down with a rope and pet carrier.