BYU-Idaho student recounts being impaled on railing

REXBURG -- I’m Natalia Hepworth in Rexburg standing next to the stairs where one girl received injuries that could have cost her life.

It was nearly a week ago Jewelissa Lowe and her friendswere unloading the Christmas tree they had just cut down from their day trip in Yellowstone National Park.

"She had to go move the truck, but we were still picking the branches out of the back of the truck bed,” Lowe said.

What happened next was something no one could have prepared for. Her friend started the truck when suddenly it lurched sharply backward pushing Lowe between the hand rail and the truck bed.

“I just (remember) backing up and thinking, the odds of me finding the hand rail compared to how much stair width there is,” Lowe said, “I was hoping I didn’t find one of the hand rails (and) that I would just go down the steps and the truck would stop before then.”

Unfortunately the truck didn’t stop in time. The pressure of the truck caused the hand rail to puncture a a gapping hole into Lowe's back. She then rolled down the stairs before coming to a stop.

"I went to turn over a bit and then I heard gurgling. That’s what really freaked me out was that I could hear the blood starting to leak out of my back,” Lowe said.

Eventually help came, and she was rushed to Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center. Although there was immense blood loss, the rail missed her spine by only a few inches. Lowe suffered muscle damage and a broken hip.