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American Morning

Iowa Woman Retains Fighting Spirit After Five Days Trapped in Car

Aired May 23, 2001 - 11:54   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: An Iowa woman who spent five days trapped in her wrecked car says that God and her fighting spirit helped her survive. The 18-year-old woman suffered severe injuries in the accident.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: And despite all of that, she's keeping a positive attitude. Details from reporter Patrick Bell of our affiliate WHO.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PATRICK BELL, WHO REPORTER (voice-over): No one is supposed to survive five days trapped in mangled metal, bleeding, afraid and alone, but Lindsey Thomas did.

LINDSEY THOMAS, ACCIDENT SURVIVOR: It's kind of something you never want to happen.

BELL: Lindsey fell asleep at the wheel while driving on Interstate 80. He car veering off the road and went head-on into cement culvert.

THOMPSON: I wasn't in any pain. The hand of God really helped me out. I was in the driver's seat, my legs were pinned. I just got the blanket and just wrapped up and went to sleep and just thought I would deal with it will the morning. The only sounds I heard were the grass blowing around, the water running, and the traffic of the interstate.

I hollered for a while, but it's kind of a waste of energy, so I just prayed that someone would find me.

BELL: Five days later, help arrived.

THOMAS: He said hello, you know. Are you OK? And I was like, yes, I'm OK. And then he shouted, she's alive. You kind of find it shocking and kind of wonder if it is real, you could say, because you take for granted so many little things, but when you're put in a situation like I was, you appreciate a lot more.

BELL: Lindsey lost her lower leg, she broke her jaw and you can see she's missing teeth and is in pain. But she has hope for the future. After all, she's a survivor. THOMPSON: If I lost hope, I more or less would be losing my spirit. I'm definitely thankful for life.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: Inspirational young woman.

HARRIS: Yes, interesting. One note, they said in the piece there she's a survivor. Did you hear that she also got a card signed by the cast of "Survivor" wishing her well. That's amazing.

KAGAN: Good for her. We want to thank Patrick Bell from CNN affiliate WHO for that story.

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