A florida grandmother is lucky to be alive after surviving a near-death experience.
The woman got trapped up to her chin, in a Florida swamp, for four days, last month.
62-year old Kathy Shino, mother of four, grandmother of eight, enjoyed a life outdoors.
But she never imagined that one of her daily walks would lead her to such a terrifying place.
"I was waiting 'til the sun started to go down at night to go out for a walk, 'cause it was so hot that whole week, I remember going for a walk, I remember getting to where the bank was, and walking behind it."
And that's where Kathy's memory stopped and her nightmare began.
For still undetermined medical reasons, she blacked out, waking up trapped and alone, neck-deep in murky swamp waters, ants crawling on her face, fish nibbling on her flesh, limbs tangled in roots, branches, and mud.
"Pretty much I think from here up (points to chin) was all that was out of water."
"Kathy spent four days trapped in these mangrove roots barely able to move, with water up to her chin, as you can see rescuers had to cut her out to save her. She had no food, nothing to drink and barely any energy left to cry for help"
Meanwhile, Kathy's family embarked on a frantic search.
"Panic, just pure panic, didn't know what to think, what could have happened. I couldn't go to sleep, i had to stay awake, especially at night"
A Reporter asked, "What was going through your mind?"
Kathy replied, "That I never realized how long 24 hours really is!"
For more than 90 hours kathy tried to stay alive. Until, "We suddenly heard 'hhheeelp,' the word, before that it was moaning."
Coming from the area beyond their backyard, Alexandra Exhazabal and her mother Alexia Cuartas finally heard Kathy's cries, and they called for help.
Alexia Cuartas: "Someone is stuck in the muddy waters of the lake and I know for a fact that there is an alligator there."
Rescuers could not believe what they had found. "When you see a human face in the water coming out, it kinda blows your mind."
And were forced to use chainsaws, to free Kathy's limp body from the clinging roots. "She wouldn't have made it through the night. At all."
While doctors, and even Kathy herself, still can't explain how it happened, why she blacked out and ended up in the swamp.....Kathy is home from the hospital and recovering with her family.
"I did think of every once in a while to give myself a little bit of a laugh sometimes during the day is 11 that people pay a lot of money to go sit in mud spas and then thinking, "They're wasting their money, it's not what it's cracked up to be (laughs)."
Now she can laugh, now that she's safe.
TXT 24
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