Typically, a broken branch causes injury or even death. But in this case, a tree limb ended up saving a woman's life after she fell into an icy pond.
Katie Shatusky explained to People that she had been taking her dog for a walk and testing out some snowshoes. that's when she fell through the ice on Lake Orono. The incident happened on December 29 in Minnesota.
"I was like, 'Is this it?' " she told the outlet. "The fact that I was able to stay calm and get myself out, that did help me. Had I been in the water any longer, [it] probably would've been a different story."
She had thought she had been near the shore when she broke through the ice. The drop was disorienting, but the Minnesota native thought fast. Fortunately, her entire body didn't go under the water.
Broken Branch Saves Her Life
"This branch, I think, was an old tree," she says. "So when I fell in, I think what actually stopped me from going under is I hit all of these roots from this tree, and my snowshoe actually got stuck in the root system."
She grabbed onto a broken branch from the tree and tried not to panic.
"It was probably seconds, but it felt like an eternity," she says. "I think that was a point where I was like, 'Oh my gosh! Am I going to get out of here?' So I finally got my foot free, and then I pulled myself up from that branch and got back on shore."
Drenched in the snow, she managed toc all her husband for help.
"I knew where I was," Katie says, "but he couldn't find me on [locator app] Life360. He was trying to figure out where I was because I was having a hard time trying to tell him how far out I was from the rental house that we are staying at."
Fortunately, she was rescued, and now this is just a cautionary tale.
"Thank God that branch was there," Katie says. "That was my lifeline."
