Alaska Man Who Fell From Tree to Rescue Cat Dies
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A 73-year-old man who fell from a tree after rescuing a cat last month has died after his family had his breathing tube removed.
Joseph Fletcher of Fairbanks had been in a Seattle hospital since suffering a head injury, a torn aorta and broken ribs in the fall. His family decided over the weekend to have the tube removed.
An official at Seattle's Harborview Medical Center says Fletcher died Monday.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}His daughter, Rebecca Fletcher Bafus, told the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner in an e-mail earlier Monday that the decision to have the tube removed was not easy, but it's what her dad would want.
Fletcher was the co-owner of J and E Trees.
He fell 25 feet after letting the cat down with a rope and pet carrier July 18.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Click here to read more on this story from the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner.