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75-year-old woman crawls 14 hours with broken leg to get help after crash

Posted on 7/15/25 at 12:11 pm
Posted by Lexis Dad
Member since Apr 2025
4327 posts
Posted on 7/15/25 at 12:11 pm
"God was with me"

LINK

quote:

MCCOY, Colo. (KMGH) - A 75-year-old Colorado woman is recovering after breaking her leg in a crash and spending the night outdoors in her rural community.

It was an ordeal of nearly 14 hours of fighting through pain and crawling home before Charlene Kirby was found.

At 75 years old, Kirby has made a name for herself in Eagle County.

“For 25 years, I was the only first responder up here. I also became an ER nurse,” she said.


Her career and hometown prepared her for one night in early June. She said she was involved in a crash when her trailer jackknifed.

“Everybody was gone for the day. So, I hooked up the trailer to the side by side, and I went,” Kirby said.

However, her trailer could have also saved her life.

“Miracle No. 1, the trailer jackknifed again, and then the side-by-side did not run over the top of me,” Kirby said. “But when I fell, I knew I broke my femur. I could feel it.”

Kirby said she ended up crawling for hours after the crash to get help.

“You’re really not supposed to move a femur, because you could sever your femoral artery,” she said.

She crawled from around 7 p.m. to 9 a.m. the following morning.

“14 hours,” Kirby said. “People asked me if I did the Army crawl. I said, ‘No.’ It was more like the inchworm.”

Her son found her the next morning and called an ambulance.

“I had dirt in my nose, in my ears, on my teeth, in my hair … all down the front of me,” she said.

She spent three weeks rehabilitating her leg.

“There’s no doubt in my mind I survived because God was with me the whole time,” Kirby said.






They don't make them like her anymore.
Posted by kywildcatfanone
Wildcat Country!
Member since Oct 2012
134916 posts
Posted on 7/15/25 at 12:12 pm to
Amazing
quote:

“14 hours,” Kirby said. “People asked me if I did the Army crawl. I said, ‘No.’ It was more like the inchworm.”
Posted by HeadCall
Member since Feb 2025
5715 posts
Posted on 7/15/25 at 12:13 pm to
quote:

They don't make them like her anymore.


Sure they do
Posted by Codythetiger
Arkansas
Member since Nov 2006
30175 posts
Posted on 7/15/25 at 12:14 pm to
thankfully a coyote didn't get her, she probably would have fought it off any wore it as a coat neways
Posted by CocomoLSU
Inside your dome.
Member since Feb 2004
155215 posts
Posted on 7/15/25 at 12:14 pm to
Good for her. I'm sure there are tons of people a lot younger that would've given up and stopped trying. Sometimes the human will to survive is a powerful thing.
Posted by Clyde Tipton
Planet Earth
Member since Dec 2007
40450 posts
Posted on 7/15/25 at 12:18 pm to
quote:

“14 hours,” Kirby said. “People asked me if I did the Army crawl. I said, ‘No.’ It was more like the inchworm.”


So how far from the crash site did she get? A couple hundred yards? Miles?

How many miles per hour is the inchworm?

D=inchworm*14
Posted by High C
viewing the fall....
Member since Nov 2012
59228 posts
Posted on 7/15/25 at 12:18 pm to
This is The Revenant with no bear.
Posted by 777Tiger
Member since Mar 2011
87588 posts
Posted on 7/15/25 at 12:19 pm to
quote:

I'm sure there are tons of people a lot younger that would've given up and stopped trying. Sometimes the human will to survive is a powerful thing.


[img]Col. George “Bud” Day: Misty 01


A veteran of three wars and the first commander of the Misty FACs, Col. George "Bud" Day is one of the most highly-decorated Airmen in USAF history. After being shot down in 1967, Day persistently defied his captors, for which he was mercilessly tortured. Day received the Medal of Honor and Air Force Cross for his determined and selfless resistance.

In 1942, at age 17, Bud Day enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps, and he served on a gun battery on Johnson Island for about two years. After the war he earned a law degree and was commissioned in the Iowa Air National Guard. Called to active duty in 1951, he completed pilot training and flew two tours in the Far East as an F-84 pilot during the Korean War.

In 1967, 43-year-old Maj. Bud Day volunteered for duty in Southeast Asia, and became commander of the Detachment 1, 416th Tactical Fighter Squadron, COMMANDO SABRE. This unit was better known by its radio call sign -- Misty -- which was Day's favorite song. On Aug. 27, 1967, on his 26th Misty FAC mission, Day was shot down by ground fire over North Vietnam. During the ejection, Day's right arm was broken in three places, along with other injuries. His crewman was quickly picked up by a rescue helicopter, but Day was captured by local militia, beaten and tortured.

After five days, he escaped. In spite of his serious injuries and missing his boots, he traveled over 25 miles. During his arduous travel, he ate only local fruit and raw frogs, and he was further injured when a bomb went off nearby. After about 10 days, Day made it across the Ben Hai River into South Vietnam and a few days later was about two miles away from the Marine base at Con Thien. Tragically, Viet Cong insurgents discovered Day and shot him in the left thigh and left hand.

After being recaptured, Day was returned to the camp from which he escaped. His guards made him pay heavily for his escape, beating him severely. They then forced him to walk many miles to a prison at Vinh, where he was interrogated and further tortured. But, Day did not reveal any useful information to the enemy.

Taken to the "Hanoi Hilton" a short time later, Day endured years of agonizing treatment. Many of his injuries did not heal properly, and his weight dropped to about 100 pounds. Still, Day remained defiant. In the spring of 1968, he was taken to the "Zoo," a punishment camp for "hard resisters." There, he was beaten so hard his vision became blurred. After Ho Chi Minh died in the fall of 1969, the POWs' situation improved somewhat, but Day was still singled out for special treatment.

In 1973, after 67 grueling months in captivity, he was released. The damage by the enemy permanently scarred Day's body, but he tenaciously fought to get well. A year later he was back on flight status, and he qualified as an F-4 pilot. Col Day became vice commander of the 33th Tactical Fighter Wing, and he retired from active service in 1976.

.

Posted by bengalbait
Grove Lounge
Member since Sep 2009
4587 posts
Posted on 7/15/25 at 12:24 pm to
quote:

"God was with me"


But not your cell phone???
Posted by Rick9Plus
Baton Rouge
Member since Jul 2020
2419 posts
Posted on 7/15/25 at 12:25 pm to
Tough old broad. Props to her.
Posted by madamsquirrel
The big somewhere out there
Member since Jul 2009
54623 posts
Posted on 7/15/25 at 12:27 pm to
quote:

"God was with me"



But not your cell phone???


This is the old people in my neighborhood
Posted by Loup
Ferriday
Member since Apr 2019
15521 posts
Posted on 7/15/25 at 12:48 pm to
quote:

She spent three weeks rehabilitating her leg.



gosh dang, that's quick for a femur, right?
Posted by nolaks
Member since Dec 2013
1283 posts
Posted on 7/15/25 at 1:08 pm to
this is a legit wyhi thread
Posted by stonedbegonias
Member since Jan 2010
12163 posts
Posted on 7/15/25 at 1:35 pm to
Posted by Grnbud
Member since Jan 2025
207 posts
Posted on 7/15/25 at 7:53 pm to
A man wouldn’t have jackknifed the trailer. Serves her right.
Posted by Arbengal
Louisiana
Member since Sep 2008
3384 posts
Posted on 7/15/25 at 8:05 pm to
As Levin Helm says in the movie “The Right Stuff”, “is that a man over there? Damn right it is!”
Posted by Lou Loomis
A pond. Ponds good for you.
Member since Mar 2025
879 posts
Posted on 7/15/25 at 8:58 pm to
Youngsters would have given themselves up for dead as soon as they couldn’t find their cell phone.
Posted by OweO
Plaquemine, La
Member since Sep 2009
119838 posts
Posted on 7/15/25 at 9:13 pm to
A 20 year old from today would have been toast after about 5 hrs.
Posted by TT9
Global warming
Member since Sep 2008
89982 posts
Posted on 7/15/25 at 9:15 pm to
Unbelievable story about determination to be alive. I love this.
Posted by 777Tiger
Member since Mar 2011
87588 posts
Posted on 7/15/25 at 9:53 pm to
quote:

“is that a man over there?


I met Bud at a few POW reunions, what a great man, also, any military person that has Tricare can thank him for that too!
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