LA GRANDE, Ore. - The parents of an Oregon truck driver, who was found alive Saturday morning after being missing for days, are relieved their son is safe.
22-year-old Jacob Cartwright was making a trucking run from Portland to Nyssa when he made a wrong turn and ended up stranded in a remote and rugged area. He made his way to safety by walking more than 14 miles over the course of four days.
"I'm hurting," Cartwright said from his hospital bed on Sunday. "Feels like everything in my body is about broken."
His parents are just glad he's home.
"We went from thinking we were going to have to bury our son to getting our son back," Jacob's father John Cartwright said.
Jacob drives for Little Trees Transportation, which is based in La Grande. After leaving Portland on Tuesday afternoon, he stopped at a truck stop in Troutdale and was supposed to refuel in La Grande later that night, but he never arrived.
"Oh, the worst fear," Jacob's mother, Natalie, said. "This was always my fear of him driving trucks."
Roy Henry, the owner of Little Trees Transportation, says GPS monitoring on the truck showed Jacob got off the interstate and turned on to U.S. Highway 395 from Pendleton. And until Saturday morning, Jacob's last known location was along Oregon Highway 244.
"He was following his GPS," John Cartwright said. "The GPS actually had him turn onto a logging service road, and when he turned onto that road he thought, 'Something's not right.'"
"By the time I started seeing snow, I figured this is not right but I have to find somewhere to turn around," Jacob said.
Soon after Jacob realized the mistake, his truck got stuck. And with no cell service or towns nearby he was stranded. John says his son waited near the truck the first night, but no one came. So he made the tough decision to leave his truck just after midnight on Wednesday.
Jacob says all he had was a bag holding his cell phone, his headset, a pocket knife and three bottles of water.
He didn't stop until Saturday morning when he reached Interstate 84 about nine miles south of La Grande. Tired and in pain, Jacob was able to flag down a good Samaritan.
"I was going to stop that truck one way or another," Jacob said. "He could've thought I was crazy. I stood in front of his truck."
He says the driver recognized him as "the missing trucker."
Jacob's parents say that good Samaritan played a pivotal role in saving their son.
"Picked him up off the side of the road and carried him into his house," they said. "We're very grateful to him. If it wasn't for him, [Jacob] might not have made it to where he is right now."
Jacob is now resting and recovering.
"This whole time you're going from heart break to hope," Natalie said. "Not wanting to have to bury your child and it turns out your child is still alive."
For his part, Jacob says his family at home kept him going through the ordeal.
"I finally got to see my wife and kids and everything and I was like, 'thank God,'" he said.
Donations for Jacob and his family can be mailed to PO Box 928, La Grande, OR 97850.