Brieonna Cassell, a 41-year-old mother from Sheldon, Illinois was rescued on Tuesday, March 11, after spending nearly a week trapped in her car following a single-vehicle crash.
Cassell crashed her Ford Taurus into a ditch on March 5 while on her way to her mother’s house. She had fallen asleep while driving, leading to severe injuries to her left arm and legs due to the crushing of the dashboard and the pinning of her lower body. With her phone out of reach and no ability to call for help, she was forced to take extreme measures to survive. There was water nearby, but she couldn’t stand up to reach it, so she used her sweater to soak up the water and squeeze it into her mouth. In addition to this, she managed to apply a makeshift tourniquet to her leg using her belt to stop the bleeding. She wrapped herself in a comforter from the backseat to mitigate the impact of the cold. Her only means of communication was a desperate attempt to signal for help, using makeup to write “HELP” on her sun visor and the driver’s side window.
Her family, who had realized that she hadn’t come home in a few days, filed a missing person’s report. Search efforts began, but it wasn’t until Saturday that her husband, Aaron Cassell, came within a mile of her location. He called out her name, unaware of the fact that she could hear his voice in the distance.
By Tuesday, Brieonna’s voice was hoarse from screaming, and she was losing hope of survival. However, that day, Jeremy Vanderwall, a heavy machinery operator and volunteer fire chief from Morocco, Indiana, noticed the wreckage while working on a drainage project. Vanderwall and his coworkers decided to investigate. He spotted a piece of white fabric moving near the car as he approached the wreckage, where he found Cassell coherent, albeit severely dehydrated and injured. When asked how long she had been there, she replied, “Since Wednesday.”
Emergency responders arrived shortly after, removing Cassell from the accident and airlifting her to a medical center in Oak Lawn, Illinois, where she underwent surgery for multiple injuries, including broken ribs and compound fractures to her left arm and legs. It is still unknown whether or not she will lose her legs, but her family remains hopeful that her resilience will carry her through to recovery. Vanderwall expressed his admiration, saying, “Her will to live, man, that’s the most impressive.”
