Photo courtesy of WSOC-TV


CALDWELL WOMAN'S HEROIC SURVIVAL STORY GOES NATIONAL

By Jon Mayhew

GRANITE FALLS -- Amber Pennell's story is one of survival. And she got to tell her story Wednesday to a national audience.

The young mother made national newspaper headlines recently when she was discovered alive after being reported missing for five days. She was found by rescue workers in a ravine off Highway 321 in Lenoir.

On the NBC Today show, Pennell and her husband talked about when she went missing, what she did for survival and how she felt after being rescued from the wreckage of her Toyota pickup.

Pennell told WSOC-TV she doesn't remember the crash Aug. 20 on U.S. Hwy. 321 in Lenoir, in rural western North Carolina, or much about the five days she spent trapped in the truck, covered by thick kudzu vines.



Photo courtesy of WSOC-TV

Pennell said she reached out a broken window to squeeze water from a leaf and recalls hearing helicopters as about 100 searchers looked for her.

"I know it's a miracle that I'm alive," Pennell said. She also said she doesn't "like to consider anything a miracle."

The 21-year-old woman was rescued after searchers checked the location again, saw faint tire tracks and then saw part of her truck.

Pennell is recovering from a broken leg and broken arm and other injuries. She sat in a wheelchair during the interview and wore a pink cast on her right forearm.

She said thoughts of her two children and her husband buoyed her during the ordeal. Pennell also said she doesn't remember going off the road as she drove home after a shift at a restaurant.

"I know my children kept me going," she said. "My children mean everything to me. There's no doubt in my mind they are what kept me going and my husband kept me going."