By EMS1 Staff
AUBURN, Ala. — A paramedic is looking for a man who helped rescue her after becoming trapped inside her overturned car for 12 hours.
BigCountryHomepage.com reported that Kimberly Stephens, a 20-year paramedic veteran, broke nearly every major bone in her body in the Sept. 22 crash. She was rescued a day later by a “bearded stranger,” according to the report.
“I remember running off the road and over correcting and hitting a stump, then going in and out of it,” Stephens said. “I had my seatbelt on, and I remember undoing it and falling, but I was hung by my foot.”
Stephens said it was nearly impossible to see the crash from the road due to the heavily wooded area.
“I remember, at some point in time, I gave up,” she said. “There was nothing; no sound, no lights, just darkness; and all of a sudden, I heard somebody talking. I said help.”
The man, who she described with a long beard and long hair in overalls, called 911.
“I never saw him again,” she said. “I can tell you I would not be alive today if it weren’t for him.”
It took responders more than an hour to cut the vehicle away, according to the report. Stephens was flown to a hospital, where she spent several days in the ICU.
“Both legs are broken. My arm is broken. I have surgery to repair all this stuff, so I am on the mend,” she said. “My pelvis was broken. My back was broken, and my spleen ruptured. My ribs broke along with my eye socket and my nose. This arm is broke, but this is the good arm.”
Stephens is hoping to be released from the hospital soon to begin rehab and eventually resume her career as a paramedic. She hopes to find the bearded man to thank him for saving her life.
“I do want to find him and give him a hug because if it weren’t for him, I would not be here,” she said.
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