Crash survivor speaks two months after her truck veered off road into trees
ABC 57 is taking you back to a New Carlisle crash where a woman’s truck smashed into two trees. Two months later, she spoke exclusively with ABC 57’s Jess Arnold about what happened.
“We went up there. I waited for him. He came out. We started home. I remember as far as the sign, and that was it,” said Diane King, the driver of that truck.
Soon after she passed that sign, she veered off the road and slammed between two trees on February 3.
“I remember some girl yelling, do you need help?” she said.
That girl’s name is Mandie Leitz.
“I started shouting at her, and I was like, are you okay? Are you okay?” said Leitz.
Miraculously, Diane was alive but far from okay.
“Broke my left arm, because the truck ended up on the driver’s side….It did the nerve damage on down through my hand. The seven broken ribs on the left side. The left collapsed lung,” said Diane.
Just over two months later, she’s standing, with just a wrist brace to show for her injuries.
And she’s thanking her good samaritan for coming to her aid.
“Who knows who else would have stopped you know? Or, if anyone would have stopped,” said Diane.
Diane says she just saw pictures of the accident a couple weeks ago.
“I think if I would have seen them right after the accident, I don’t think I would have handled it,” she said.
Not to mention, doctors still aren’t sure what caused her to blackout.
“The only thing they really did find was my vitamin D was low, and I mean it was extremely low,” said Diane.
“Most of the time when we work up someone or check out someone for having passed out, we don’t find a cause…You know a specific scenario where someone is driving a car and passes out for no reason, I’ve probably seen a few in my career,” said Dr. Katherine Lisoni, a family physician with HealthLinc.
“It still worries me about the people around me, knowing what happened to me, and knowing it can happen to them,” said Diane.
“I’m not even sure how I came out of that…I have a lot of people to thank,” she said.
Diane will be hosting a benefit dinner to raise money to help cover her medical expenses at the La Porte Moose Lodge #492 on Saturday, June 3 from 10AM to 8:30 PM CDT.
The event will feature a porker run at 11AM CDT.
There will also be a Corn Hole tournament starting at 2 PM CDT. Entry fees are $20.
There will be a base cover charge of $10 unless you plan to participate in the porker run or tournament.