WILLMAR, Minn. (AP) — A Minnesota woman credits her survival of a 20-hour ordeal outside after a tumble to her faithful dog and a punctual mail carrier.
Emma Iverson, 79, who takes medication for Parkinson's disease, said she fell outside her country home near Granite Falls. She couldn't get up no matter how hard she tried on that late September afternoon. Nobody heard her calls for help, and the medical alert button on her wrist didn't seem to work, the West Central Tribune of Willmar reported Monday (http://bit.ly/uNmTA6 ).
After night fell, she said, her dog, Crackers stayed with her and repeatedly chased away the raccoons that slinked toward her. Later she heard the yipping of coyotes and thought "Oh no, not them." Crackers kept the ghost-like visitors away, chasing after the smaller ones.
Iverson was wearing a warm shirt but shivered through overnight temperatures in the mid-40s. She said she was dehydrated and could not take her medication.
Sometime the next morning she fell asleep or lost consciousness. Fortunately, postal carrier Stan Boushek arrived on schedule at 12:45 p.m. He was just able to spot her from the end of her driveway, about 20 feet away. She had one eye completely swollen shut and the other nearly so. Her body was swollen, bruised and full of scratches from her struggles to get up.
Iverson spent nine days in the Granite Falls Hospital but made a full recovery. She said her nurses told her, "A couple more hours and I wouldn't be here."
She said she still wonders what could have happened. Days after her recovery, she heard that someone had reported seeing a cougar within a mile of her home.
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Information from: West Central Tribune, http://www.wctrib.com
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.
Comments (2)
Add commentThank God for the
Thank God for the mailman!
Medical alert bracelet company better explain that one.
Donate old phones and chargers. They can always call 911.
Watch for each other. It doesn't matter your age. A fall is a fall. You never know when you won't be able to get up!
Woman credits dog and mailman fo saving life.
1. The medical alert company is in trouble. 2. Even if you have a medical alert device on you, a Parkinson's patient can sometimes "freeze" meaning they can not move even enough to push that device. I would hope that this lady has someone whom she can check in with daily because her life depends on it. It sounds like she is at a point where she should not be living alone. My heart and prayers go out to her.