The Happy Pod: Surviving six days alone on Everest

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1:04This is the Happy Pod from the BBC World Service.

1:13I'm Holly Gibbs and in this edition, a remarkable survival. I didn't think I would be alive. I thought I would perish this way. As the oxygen ran out, I couldn't walk. I didn't eat anything for the first two days. Then I began chewing ice. The man who spent six days alone on Mount Everest. Also on this podcast, how one mother's poem to her son ended up in his exam years later. The joy of winning your own tiny island. I think it has taught me to just try things, even if they don't really seem promising at first. To just do all the crazy stuff that you think doesn't really make sense. And... It's my favourite bird.

1:54They were spotted quitsa.

1:59The boy who can mimic more than a hundred birds.

2:06We start with the story of a climbing guide who miraculously survived alone on Mount Everest for six days with no equipment and almost no food. Dawa Sherpa's family feared the worst when he didn't return with his group and started planning his funeral. He was last seen on the most dangerous part of the mountain where oxygen is limited. But then a team clearing rubbish spotted him sliding and slowly crawling towards base camp. He was airlifted to Nepal's capital where he spoke to the BBC's Kamal Pariyar. I met him in the hospital bed. He looked extremely happy to have new life and glad to meet his family members.

2:43He looked a little bit tired, but yeah, he was very excited to talk with me. He never thought he would see his wife and daughter again. He was forced to stay behind after his oxygen ran out.

3:02I didn't think I would be alive. I thought I would perish this way. I didn't go missing. I was forced to stay behind as my oxygen ran out. As the oxygen ran out, I couldn't walk. I didn't eat anything for the first two days. Then I began chewing ice. It pained my teeth. I chewed the ice hard. No oxygen, but I had some chocolates in my pockets. He had lost his bag as well. And during that time, he had also fallen into a crevice, OK? This is how he explained how he came out of the crevice and made his way safe back to home.

3:43Then, stepping on the snow, I stood up and looked above. I felt I could get out from there. I concluded that I could do that. Then I searched for ropes. I found the ropes nearby. Then I caught a rope and moved some distance, but there was another avalanche. It was likely to get bigger. Nonetheless, I got through the snow and moved downwards. I walked throughout that night. Then I came close to base camp. There's a group called the SPCC, the Sagamatha Pollution Control Committee. Its boys were going up to collect the waste. I met them. They carried me down. everyone is saying that it's a miracle you know it's been very hard for people to believe the story of survival i got chance to meet a lot of people and his well-wishers and his relatives as well they were there with flowers and bouquet and they were wishing his spirit recovery and they said that this is only possible when there is a serpa okay they were praising his bravery and they were praising his will for the life, praising the power of Serpas.

4:46And also they talked about anything is possible when there is a Serpa alive. And I talked to his wife and daughter also. They were very much happy to see Dawa Serpa alive, but they're still waiting for the answers about why he was left alone. Chris Thrall was on the climb with Dawa. He explains how he became separated from the group. Gower sat down on his backpack as he had done hundreds of times before to take a short rest and as I descended the next 50, 100 metres alone I came across the Polish climber with no oxygen battling fairly severe frostbite so immediately my attention obviously turned to the weakest member of the trio.

5:34What should have taken two hours, the conditions were so bad, and with no oxygen, took about 11 hours. Complete whiteout, all the ropes were afoot under snow. We were just, you know, guessing which way to go and that we didn't all end up in a crevice is quite a godsend. Chris also describes hearing the news Dawa was alive one day after going to see Dawa's family. It's kind of crazy one minute to be fighting back tears with his daughter and then the next minute to see him doing a crocodile dundee and crawling into town. It's absolutely amazing. Beyond words, looking forward to speaking to him. But moreover, absolutely fascinating to know what happened.

6:21Just amazed by it all, really. How he would have crossed the Cumbu Icefall with no ladders, beggars belief. That takes it from a sort of utterly brutal ninja feat of endurance to just something else again. I mean, you're talking serious, serious ice climbing. Just incredible. That was Chris Thrall. Now, what are the chances of answering an exam question on a piece of work you inspired? That's exactly what happened to Emily Cullen's son when he turned the page of his English test and saw a poem she had written about him. Branka Lesser-Dissar reports. Emily Cullen, a poet from Galway, had spent the morning helping her son cram in some revision for his afternoon English exam.

7:07It was an ordinary day like every other, except with the tension of the state exam that morning and trying to do last minute revision of Shakespeare quotes. So when she met him afterwards, and he looked pleased, she assumed their work had paid off. He had a big, broad smile on his face. And I thought, oh, that's good. He must have remembered his Shakespeare quotes. But it was a Macbeth or Hamlet that had come up on 15-year-old Lee's paper. Instead, it was a poem written by Emily herself about him. He said, you won't believe it, Mum. The poem you wrote about me came up in the paper. And I said, what?

7:39And he said, the one about the chalk. Envoy and Chalk was written by Emily after she spotted something Lee had written in chalk on the pavement outside their home. He was eight years old and the message read, the world is great. It was just what Emily needed. To bring me back to reality and to remind me that things were so bad and there was beauty all around me and lots of wonder in the everyday. The poem was first published as an Irish Times poem of the week before later appearing in Emily's third collection, Conditional Perfect. But seven years later, she could never have imagined it would come up on her son's exam paper.

8:13It was just the most flabbergasting moment. I kind of thought it felt like I was in another dimension. Lee had also been in shock when he flipped open his exam and saw his mother's words. Initially, the coincidence posed the problem. Admit in his answer that the poem was about him and risk seeming delusional or respond to it as he would any other text. When he took a moment, he thought, well, the person grading my exam probably won't believe that I inspired the poem and that my mum wrote the poem about something that I chalked in the pavement. So he opted to respond to the question in the third person.

8:48Once the exam was over, the emotions sunk in. Lee asked his mum to pick him up so he could tell her. I got quite emotional about it, as you would, and my breath was taken away, really. I was just kind of in a state of pleasant shock. Emily's life has changed considerably since she wrote Envoy and Chalk. Her own mother has since died, and she's now caring for her 95-year-old father, who recently returned home from hospital. The world is great. Those words her son wrote on the pavement all those years ago remain more important than ever. We do have to kind of remind ourselves of the gifts that life is and the gift of the wonders all around us in abundance amid the darkness and the dark times.

9:28For Emily, there is no better reminder of this wonder than having her own 15-year-old son answer an exam question on a poem she wrote inspired by him. It's an amazing thing. I mean, what are the odds that that would happen? It's kind of a once-in-a-lifetime synchronicity, really. Emily Cullen ending that report by Branka Lesser-Di-Sar. To the state of Oklahoma now and a 12-year-old boy with a very special talent. take a listen to this that is samuel henderson imitating bird calls he can do 115 different types a video of him performing at his school talent show went viral samuel and his mother laurie have been speaking to my colleague rachel burden when i was four years old at the zoo i I started mimicking this great-toe greckel that was bothering my sister.

10:27And what does the great-toe greckel sound like?

10:36That is an incredible sound. We have a video of him and he actually jumped whenever it started talking back to him. It was a pretty neat moment. So the bird certainly wasn't expecting it. And from there on, Samuel, you began to look at other birds and just pick up these extraordinary sounds. Was this deliberate? Did you go home and listen to different bird sounds? Or were these birds that you encountered when you were out and about? Yeah, both. And also I listened to them on my YouTube in search for sounds. He's always liked birds. He's always said he wants to fly and was jealous. and then he found that birds were more beautiful and had more elaborate calls as he went along.

11:19What bird have you got there, Samuel? An American crow. I can do the crow that's from your country too. I would love to hear a British crow. Why don't you do the American one first and then a British one and we'll see if we can hear the difference. I have to bob to be able to do the sound because it's so loud. Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Okay, let's hear the British crow then.

11:45typical the british one definitely sounds more miserable doesn't it yeah tell me about how you use your your body your voice your throat to make these sounds because even if i wasn't trying to sound like a bird i don't think i could produce the same noise that you do like the bar out i have to uh build a lot of air to be able to do it well we'd love to hear that can you do that for us

12:12that's so beautiful what are your favorite birds Samuel uh the respondent quitsaw and I really want to go get the stuffed animal of it yeah you can go and do that while you do that Laurie tell us a bit more about Samuel as a boy then and what he's like as a child and his personality Samuel's always been very loud very vocal he is a people's person he loves animals. He loves people. He loves to talk. Samuel, you've got the bird that you wanted to get. What is it you're holding right now? It's my favourite bird. They were splitted quetzal. And what sound does this one make?

12:54Is that you making that sound, Samuel? Yeah. That is absolutely extraordinary. What has been the reaction then from people? Because it's gone viral, not just across America, but across the world, Laurie. It has. We've actually received gifts as far as Australia. They've sent him stuffed birds, kookaburras.

13:21I feel like I'm in the forest listening to that. Every day. Samuel and Laurie speaking to Rachel Burden.

13:36Coming up on the Happy Pod. I think it's lovely. They just keep popping up everywhere. It's very community and I love living here for that reason. She's like some sort of superhero in the village. The woman who's been knitting toys and hiding them in her village.

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14:40We don't have billionaires telling us what to say. Stateside with Kyan Carter will come out three times a week, Monday, Wednesday and Friday starting May 13th. Subscribe on YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts.

14:59You're listening to The Happy Pod. to Sweden next, a country with more than 250 ,000 islands. So many that it decided it could give up control of five of them for a year. The online competition asked for video entries, and here's a taste of some of the winners. Guys, guys, guys, you're not going to believe this. We are going to win a contest to win an island in Sweden. What are you talking about? They're giving away like five islands in Sweden, and you just make a video about it, and then you win an island.

15:34Do you like Sweden? I was actually planning a trip to Sweden when I learned of this opportunity. What do you plan to do on the island? Just enjoy the nature. I'm sorry, I know that makes me sound kind of boring. That's okay, you'll fit right in. Hey, I'm Miri. I'm 27 years old and a illustrator from Germany. The last winner there was German arts student Miriam Wieskman. She's been speaking to Stephanie Prentiss. When I got the email that I actually won the island, I don't know, I couldn't believe it was true. Yeah, I think it's going to be really nice. I'm like the official custodian of the island, but I don't really have any tasks to do.

16:15So it's more like a symbolic thing. And the main price is actually a travel voucher for 20 ,000 crowns, which is like around 2 ,000 euros. So I'll actually be travelling there with like a really good friend from childhood. And I think that's going to be the most exciting part. So tell me a little bit about your island. I think all of the five islands that you could win are quite similar in size. So there's not really any buildings on there. So you can't really live there. And I think mine is about like nine kilometres from the shore. So it's not that easy to get there. But people have told me that you can use a kayak or a stand-up paddle to get there.

16:54And in the summertime, there's mostly birds living on the island. So I'm going to be there in September now and hopefully don't annoy them too much. How different is this to your normal life going from living in Germany to kayaking to your private island? It's really different, I think, because right now I live in a smaller city in Germany and I study communication design and I mostly focus on illustration right now. and I think it's going to be really nice to be out in nature because that's what gives me most inspiration for my art and my illustration practice and I think spending time there and with the birds can be super inspiring for me for another project or like maybe a book or a comic or something.

17:39What is it about Sweden or Swedish culture that really resonates with you? It feels to me like much less stressful than life in Germany in some way. I feel like some of the stereotypes about like German culture might be true that it's like really punctual everything is kind of strategic and like logical maybe and it has to make sense and I feel like when I'm in Sweden I can kind of like leave that behind and just having like a more direct connection to nature. And you said that you were surprised to win but now that you have what has that really taught you? I think it has taught me to just try things even if they don't really seem promising at first like to just do all the crazy stuff that you think doesn't really make sense or like doesn't really have high prospects of winning.

18:30You've seen the island obviously in pictures and things and online but how do you think you'll feel when you're on that paddleboard or on that canoe and you see it for the first time? I'm not really sure I'm really really excited to see how it's going to feel. I think just taking the flight or like the train, we haven't decided quite yet to Sweden to know that I'm going to see the island. It's going to feel really, really exciting. And I think I'm just going to be really happy to actually see this island that I've talked about so much now. And I think it's going to feel really surreal to be there.

19:04And yeah, I'm also really excited to meet the people who live in the region and to hear their stories. I mean, you might end up being a bit of a local celebrity actually. Yeah maybe I don't know like it's really funny because actually the first newspaper that reached out to me was like the local newspaper from this town and I was really excited to to give them interview and like they published it so yeah I'm gonna it's gonna be interesting to see if people like recognize me and maybe want to chat with me so that would be really nice and I'm really looking forward to to meet them. Miriam Wieskman speaking to Stephanie Prentice.

19:40Barry Manilow has enjoyed a 60-year-long career in entertainment, but the American singer recently had to take a break after being diagnosed with lung cancer. Now he's recovered and, at the age of 82, is back doing what makes him happy. The Happy Pod's Charlotte Gallagher has been to meet him at one of his rehearsals.

20:09The ultimate showman. Barry Manilow is back performing just months after recovering from cancer.

20:20I'm feeling great. Great. Yes. Everything's all better. You look fantastic. It is really hard to believe that you have been so unwell. Were you scared all during that point or did you think I'm going to get through this? It was a rough ride. It was seven days in ICU. Because, you know, it wasn't so much the surgery that got me, it was the pneumonia that got me. I could have gone home after the surgery. They threw that tumour in the garbage and I could have gone home. And it was pneumonia that kept me in the hospital for a long time. You're facing your own mortality. And then also, I know how much you love performing.

21:04and you weren't able to perform for quite some time. How did that feel? It was agony. I have no patience. I know the doctors said it would take a while for everything to come back, but it was agony. I hated just sitting and waiting. They really did a number on me, and it took a long time to recover from it. It really did, longer than I thought. Because for Barry Manilow, performing on stage is what makes him happy. I like being with my band and the crew and their family. So that's what I was missing. I was missing this. And your fans are like family as well, because they follow you everywhere.

21:44Some of them have seen you 60, 70 times. Why do you think you inspire that devotion? Because not every artist has that. I've never been able to answer that question. I have no idea. I'm just a guy, a skinny guy that plays the piano. That's what I think of myself. I don't know why I've got these wonderful people that's been supporting me for years and years. And I've met them, and they're great people. They really are. The Fanalos. Yeah, the Fanalos. And do you still get the knickers thrown at you? Do you still get the knickers thrown on stage? No more. Or do you miss it? No more, no. Is there any kind of showgirls or showmen out there at the moment that you think, oh, I'd quite like to work with them?