Christy Dray-Blackham says she must have had divine help when the minivan she was driving plunged 50 feet into a ravine and then a creek Thursday afternoon in Buffalo Township.
That intervention came in the form of two nurse “angels” who happened by in separate cars and a slew of first responders — all of whom reached Dray-Blackham in her smashed minivan at the bottom of the ravine.
Dray-Blackham, 65, was traveling on Route 356 (South Pike Road) near Sarver Road just before 5 p.m. when, she said, she lost her brakes. Unable to stop, she ended up going up a hillside and plunging over the other side.
Speaking from her hospital bed Friday, Dray-Blackham said she was only going about 10 to 15 mph at the time.
As she approached the intersection, Dray-Blackham said, she began braking for a red light when she “very suddenly” lost all braking power.
Though she thought about jumping from the minivan, she decided to stay behind the wheel to avoid hitting other cars or potential bystanders.
She feared she would die. But even before emergency crews arrived, Dray-Blackham had help from two women whom she described as “angels.”
Lynne Roberts, a nurse practitioner from Greensburg, was one of them.
Roberts was in the area visiting a patient when Dray-Blackham’s minivan nearly struck her car at the intersection before tumbling down the ravine.
Leechburg nurse Jordan Syfert was also at the intersection and “felt the need to help,” scrambling down the steep hillside as her “adrenaline kicked in.”
Roberts and Syfert found Dray-Blackham hanging out of the passenger side of the destroyed van.
Carrying her from the vehicle to a nearby rock in the creek, the two attempted to keep her warm and help her focus on breathing. After EMS crews arrived, Roberts said, the first responders placed a tourniquet on Dray-Blackham’s leg before constructing the rope system that would eventually haul her up and out to safety.
The whole process took about an hour.
“I was put there at the right place at the right time,” Roberts said. “It was very traumatic for her, and I was just glad to be there to help.”
Buffalo Township police Chief Tim Derringer said the several crews on site did a “phenomenal job.” After Dray-Blackham was lifted out of the ravine using the rope system, an ambulance took her to the nearby parking lot of Buffalo Elementary School, where a medical helicopter landed to fly her to a Pittsburgh hospital.
Matt Cypher, chief of the Buffalo Township Volunteer Fire Company, said it wasn’t the first time his company has responded to incidents at the ravine, but he hadn’t encountered “anything of this magnitude.”
Firefighters and EMS crews, he said, lowered medical supplies down with a basket-style stretcher to others to treat Dray-Blackham while she and her vehicle were still in the creek.
Though it was “pretty intense,” Cypher said first responders eventually managed to lift her out over ravine walls he estimated to be at a 75-degree angle with the same basket-style stretcher.
As for the van, Cypher said, a tow truck was able to essentially pull the destroyed vehicle straight out by using trees as “pivot points” to guide the tow cable.
“We’ve trained for that extreme, but we never really believe that you’re going to see it,” he said. “But when we do encounter it, we are prepared.”
In addition to a spinal fracture, Dray-Blackham suffered deep gashes to her leg and head and lost a fair amount of blood.
But all things considered, she said she “feels great” and avoided surgery.
According to her sons, Aaron and Luke, she could be released from the hospital as soon as this weekend, but a regimen of physical therapy and several weeks in a neck brace are set to follow.
“There is no doubt in my mind that this was absolutely a miracle,” Dray-Blackham said.