Woman Survives Freak Accident After Being Impaled By A Tree Limb

Michelle Childers is lucky to be alive after a freak accident sent a tree limb through her neck during a drive through the Montana countryside.

WARNING: This story contains graphic descriptions, video and images.

The incident occurred as the 20-year-old woman from Idaho took a drive through the Montana countryside with her husband, Daniel. Michelle was sitting in the front passenger seat when the couple rounded a blind curve too fast and a stray tree branch pierced her through the neck.

Freak Accident Sends Couple On A Desperate Mission To Find Medical Attention

The couple had to drive over an hour from Montana’s Lochsa River to a lodge to get medical attention. Michelle was then airlifted to St. Patrick Hospital in Missoula, Montana where surgeons worked for six hours to remove the tree limb from Michelle’s neck.

The branch had penetrated her neck by eight inches and had narrowly missed the jugular vein. Doctors say if the branch had been just fractions of an inch out, it would have severed a vein and Michelle would have surely bled to death before reaching medical help.

Michelle Childers Discusses Being Impaled By A Tree Limb On The TODAY Show

In an interview with NBC‘s the TODAY Show, Childers describes an “explosion” of green and a “strange” pressure on her neck and shoulder, along with her confusion at her husband’s sudden alarm.

“It was like a bomb had went off,” said Childers, who was sitting in the passenger seat as her husband, Daniel Childers, drove their truck on a narrow, tree-lined road. “I had no idea what happened. I had to ask.”

Glad she’s okay! Wow, what a story!