Idaho woman impaled by tree limb recovering

[September 18, 2009]  KAMIAH, Idaho (AP) -- An Idaho woman who was skewered in the neck by a tree limb while driving with her husband along the Lochsa River is recovering at home.

KHQ-TV reports 20-year-old Michelle Childers and her husband, Daniel, were taking a recreational drive on a rural road Sept. 5 when a spruce tree crashed through the passenger side window of the vehicle.

Childers says she then felt a "strange" pressure on her neck and shoulder. Her husband told her that the tree limb had impaled her.

The couple drove to the Lochsa Lodge near the Idaho-Montana border to call for help and was flown by helicopter to St. Patrick Hospital in Missoula, Mont.

Childers says the 13-inch tree limb was removed from her neck during a six-hour surgery.

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Information from: KHQ-TV, http://www.khq.com/

[Associated Press]

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