Maryland Medevac Crash Survivor Thanks Rescuers
She was released as a national panel was reviewing protocols.
BALTIMORE --
The sole survivor of a Maryland State Police Medevac crash two months ago finally spoke about the incident and thanked those who saved her life.
Jordan Wells, 18, was involved in a car crash with a friend at the end of September, but the Medevac helicopter set to take them to the hospital for treatment crashed, killing everyone except her.
While Wells is currently out of the hospital and in rehab, she went back to Shock Trauma Monday to tell her story.
"I just wish that someone would find what's wrong with all these helicopters and fix them so this will never happen again and no one will have to go through what I've been through," she said.
Wells said she was driving with her best friend, Ashley Younger, the night of the crash.
"I was driving the speed limit ... and I hate rain, but it was raining very bad, and right before I lost control, I told Ashley, 'I'm about to lose control.' I tried to press my brake down, I tried to gain control back, but I didn't. We went over a grassy median and hit a tree, then went into another lane of traffic and spun around. It was just scary. A car hit the back end of us," she said.
Wells said the next thing she knew, she was on a helicopter.
"The helicopter hit some trees -- branches and stuff. All of a sudden I blanked out, and the next thing I remember was waking up in the woods on the ground because the helicopter actually spit me out. So, I got thrown out of the helicopter before it hit the ground," she said.
Wells said she passed out for what seemed like two hours and recalled telling herself to wake up and began crying for help.
"Eventually I heard a guy say, 'She's over here.' It was kind of far off, but then they started coming down toward me and I heard them look at the helicopter. I heard one say, 'The pilot didn't make it. They didn't make it,'" she recalled.
Wells lost her right foot and suffered a broken neck and several back injuries. She said she's still processing everything and misses her friend terribly.
She said she's thankful for all the medical personnel who helped her and those who found her.
"The three men who saved me -- John Preston, Mike Perkins and Scott Russell -- I would love to thank them, because they are most definitely my angels and the ones who saved me in the woods that night," she said.
Doctors said a full recovery will take six months to a year.
