Good Idea To Let People Know Your Plans

Hi All,

The kids have always been very good about letting us know where they are going and when they plan to return. To this day they always let us know when they get back home from a trip home, while our youngest usually lets us know where she is or where she is going. The following story about a woman who went off the road in Ticonderoga, NY and spent the night apparently had no one who knew she had not gotten home yet - Truly something to think about:

School Children Help Save Crash Victim

Ticonderoga, New York - February 11, 2008

Cuts and bruises mark the face of Roxanne Dore, 47, as she recovers from a crash that almost took her life. Last week, she was returning from visiting a friend who lives on the remote Canfield Road in Ticonderoga at about 9:00 p.m. The road was dark and covered with snow.

"She hit ice... and over-corrected too much. She said she got into the snow and it pulled her to the right and ended up down there," says Dore's companion, Michael Pelerin.

She plunged down a steep bank and into a river. She was stunned by the crash and might have been knocked out for a time.

"After that I blanked out," explains Dore. "I don't remember anything until I hit the tree. Then my head went down on the steering wheel or the air bag. I remember waking up and blood running down my head."

Despite being dazed, she got out of the car and stepped into the frigid river. In the dark she could see the outline of a high snow-covered bank and headed for it.

"Soaking wet from head to toe... I went under the water. That's when I lost the first shoe. I remember getting out of the water and tried to climb (the bank) for a second time. I couldn't make it that time either," says Dore.

She spent the rest of the night shivering and going in and out of consciousness. About ten hours later, she heard a school bus go by. Dore knew the road was a dead end and the bus would be coming back. So she used all the strength she had left to climb the bank and collapsed on the road. And that's where the bus driver and school children from Ticonderoga Central spotted Dore-- as she started to freeze to the road.

"When we found her she had no shoes or socks on and she had ice on her feet and pants. I was concerned if she would ever walk again," says Nadine Mars, one of the students who helped rescue Dore.

"I got the boys to help me get her up and on the bus. They put all their coats on her to get her warm and from going into hypothermia which she was well on her way to," explains bus driver Bob Chamberlain.

Doctors say if Dore had been out in the cold much longer she would have died. They say she will regain the use of her feet.

Dore says that she will have to get a new car and she will not hesitate to drive again. But she will never forget the kids and the bus driver who saved her life.

Jack LaDuke - WCAX News