As he lay paralyzed face down somewhere in the North Cascades, William “Billy” Wolf prayed that God would either take him, or that someone would find him.

When each morning he still awoke, he realized it might not be his time just yet.

“I called up to the Lord and asked if it was my time and the Lord said, ‘No!,’” Wolf said in a Saturday interview.

Wolf, a quality assurance Senior Chief with VAQ 136 at Whidbey Island Naval Air Station, spent three days alone in the wilderness after being injured in a motorcycle accident. An admirer of the region’s beautiful waterfalls, Wolf left alone on a 2000 Honda Enduro July 5, 2012.

Some time that afternoon, Wolf lost control of his bike, slid into a ravine, hit a log or rock and went over his handlebars. He broke his neck, injuring his spine which rendered him paralyzed.

His discovery was no accident.

When Wolf did not report for duty Friday morning, Navy staff became concerned and started a search in conjunction with the Skagit County Sheriff’s Office and the Day Creek volunteer fire fighters. As it turned out, searchers spent two days looking in the wrong area.

They finally contacted his best friend and fellow Senior Chief Ryan Stauffer, who had been deployed to an aircraft carrier and knew exactly where he was headed.

Once Stauffer was reached, search crews located Wolf within minutes.

“I said, ‘You guys are in the wrong spot,’” Stauffer said. “Within 45 minutes, I got an email saying they found him.”

According to law enforcement agencies, Wolf was found July 7 on Forest Service Road 1755 in the Finney-Cumberland area, south of the South Skagit Highway. His bike was found nearby. Wolf was immediately airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle by the Navy’s Search and Rescue unit.

“They come together and they find you,” Stauffer said. “Joe Blow civilian wouldn’t have been found for weeks.”

Wolf’s initial prognosis was not good.

“His injuries were intensive and his recovery will be long,” said Tony Popp, NAS Whidbey public affairs officer, after the 2012 accident.

Indeed, due to three days of paralysis, his right leg did not get enough circulation and had to be amputated from the knee down. His right arm was shattered and had to be reconstructed. And while his broken neck rendered him a paraplegic, surgeons were able to restore much of his functionality.

Today, after more than a year of rehabilitation, Wolf is as energetic as ever and able to get around either in a wheelchair or to walk with a prosthetic leg. He remained at Harborview until recent months when he was released to live with his son who is stationed at Fort Lewis.

“We were gonna tell you that a Sasquatch put a branch in my spokes,” Wolf joked. “It would be a better story.”

Earlier this month, Wolf was able to go back and visit his medical staff at Harborview — walking in on his prothetic leg.

“I got to walk in,” Wolf said. “It was so awesome to meet them. The orthopedic surgeon who put my arm back together couldn’t believe how well I was doing.”

Both Wolf and Stauffer were overwhelmed by the response from their Navy “brothers and sisters.” Wolf said it was the support of his Navy family, both during the search and through his recovery, that kept him motivated. Even chiefs from Lewis-McChord, where he was previously stationed, came up to check on him, Wolf said.

In addition, fellow Navy chiefs were frequent guests at Harborview, Wolf said, offering encouragement and hassling him for not sporting his military attire and haircut.

“In the hospital they gave him crap for not having a haircut or being in uniform,” Stauffer said.

“They’d say, ‘Senior chief you need to square yourself away,’” Wolf remembered. “The Navy really took good care of me. The support chain is what got me through.”

Wolf was able to thank them in person earlier this month at the Chief Officer’s Club on Ault Field Road. The key, Wolf said, is that being a part of the Navy chief community is like becoming part of a very loyal family.

“They say a chief never forgets,” Stauffer said. “It was overwhelming and it showed us, hey this is real.”

Moving forward, Wolf said he has made peace with what happened and is eager to move forward with his life. He plans to still work in aviation or volunteer with the Department of Veterans Affairs working with other amputees. He and Stauffer visited the crash site last week, which gave Wolf some closure, he said.

“It felt good,” Wolf said. “I had peace of mind with it. The world doesn’t stop because you’ve lost a limb.”