Woman Sucks Water From Her Hair To Survive

Car crash victim survives five-day ordeal by drinking water from her hair

Woman lived five days in the Rocky Mountain wilderness by sucking water from her rain-soaked hair

Daniel Nasaw in Washington
guardian.co.uk,

Monday 21 September 2009

Cynthia Hoover, a 52-year-old grandmother, was only rescued after crawling 137 metres (450 feet) from her wrecked car towards an abandoned gold mine visited by tourists and crying out for help.

Gary Allen, a fire chief who was one of the first on the scene, said Hoover obviously had "a heck of a will to live.

"She used up three or four miracles," said Allen. "She survived the initial crash, she survived the elements, and she was heard by people conducting mine tours."

The remarkable tale of human endurance began on the evening of 10 September, when Hoover swerved to avoid a herd of deer on a road high in the mountains. Her car ran off the road and plunged down the hillside, landing on its top.

Suffering from a dozen broken ribs, fractured vertebrae, a punctured lung and severely bruised face, Hoover escaped from the car. It was then that she discovered she was more than 350ft from the road, in a spot where her vehicle could not be seen by passing cars.

At an altitude of 8,600ft and a mile from the nearest town, and with the temperature dropping fast, she was not dressed for survival, wearing only shorts and a blouse. Adding to her woes, her family were unlikely to report her missing, as she frequently made trips by herself.

The severity of Hoover's injuries prevented her from standing and walking, and she was unable to crawl back up the hill, so she began inching down the hill in search of rescue, using a golf club from the car to help support her.

At night, she heard animals gathering around her and steeled herself to fight them off with the club.

Two days after the crash, when it seemed her ordeal could not become more dire, a chilling rainstorm drenched her and hailstones beat down on her battered body. While the rain chilled her bones, it may also have saved her life. With no food or water nearby, Hoover sucked the moisture from her soaked hair.

"It was very difficult and painful," her sister Rhonda Adams told the Denver Post. "She was scared that something was going to get her. Can you imagine being alone for five days, talking to yourself?"

She said Hoover kept her wits and her will to live by thinking about her children and grandchildren.

"Her whole demeanour was 'I'm going to make it through because I have all these people in my life'," she said.

By last Tuesday afternoon, Hoover had dragged herself 450ft towards an old gold mine open to tourists and school groups, and she heard voices. With the little strength she had left after five days with no food, Hoover cried out.

The tourists followed the sound of her voice and found her clutching her knees, with her bare feet bleeding and raw and her mouth full of dirt, and summoned help after giving her water.

Today Hoover was described as being in a fair condition at a hospital in Denver.

Workers at the Hidee gold mine who were present at the rescue said she was desperately thirsty, and ignored a warning that big gulps of water could harm her health.

"I could see things weren't right," said Jon Northern, a captain of the Colorado Front Range mine rescue team and a mine tour guide.

"She said her car had rolled. She was fixated on my bottle of water."