In Minnesota, 68-year-old Kathryn Woessner got out of her van and fell into a puddle beside it. The pool of mud was so deep that Woessner couldn’t get herself out; she compared it to quicksand. She was almost completely submerged, stuck in it for three days until two men spotted her and saved her life.
The two men, Adam Sandbeck and Mike Gravalin, were riding their all-terrain vehicles nearby. On a whim, the two friends decided to ride on a trail that they hadn’t explored before that had been flooded. That’s when they spotted Woessner’s van in a clearing.
‘Help me’
Sandbeck and Gravalin went in to get a closer look. Next to the van, they saw what they thought was a corpse buried in the mud except for part of the face poking upward. That’s when they heard Woessner’s weak voice say, “Help me.”
Shocked at first, Sandbeck and Gravalin quickly went into action. It took them less than half an hour to pull Woessner out of mud and check in on her. They then called 911 to get volunteer firefighters, paramedics, and police to the scene for help. The tracking device on one of their vehicles helped provide coordinates to their location. Woessner explained to her saviors that she was stuck on her back, resulting in a serious sunburn on her face as she tried to yell for help for days.
Woessner was taken to Essentia Health-St. Joseph’s Medical Center where she is expected to make a full recovery. The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office and Woessner’s family were relieved, as she was officially reported missing for three days. The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office thanked the other agencies that aided in the search and rescue of Woessner in a Facebook post.
The two friends were ‘guided’ there
While they were rightfully praised for their actions, Gravalin and Sandbeck say they were at the right place at the right time. In fact, they almost wouldn’t have found Woessner at all. Had they decided to take their vehicles on their usual routes, Woessner might not have survived.
“We ain’t heroes,” Sandbeck told KARE 11 News. “We’re just two guys that were out there riding, enjoying the day together, making fun of each other all day long like we always do, like buddies, but I have no doubt the hand of God was there guiding us there. Because that trail that we found her on, we actually drove past it.”
“We’ve driven past it for the last eight years and never went down,” added Gravalin. “And it was like, let’s go check that out,” Sandbeck added. “So we actually turned around and drove back down it.”
Regardless of reason, it was good for Woessner that they decided to take a detour.
