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12th Oct 2021

Woman in coma after jumping into geyser to save dog

Ellen Fitzpatrick

It looks like recovery is going well.

A woman in the US has been in a coma for a week after she jumped into a near boiling water geyser to save her dog.

20 year old Laiha Slayton has suffered burns to more than 90% to her body after the incident.

Jumping into the 93 degrees Celcius geyser at Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, her dog Rusty had dived into Maiden’s Grave Spring on October 4.

While visiting her dad Woodrow, her dog ran from the car as they parked and jumped into the boiling water, and has unfortunately died from his injuries.

 

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A post shared by Kami Slayton (@kamijoslayton)

Helping his daughter from the water, Laiha was treated at the scene by park rangers before a local fire service arrived on the scene.

Laiha then was transported to the burn centre at Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center by helicopter.

A GoFundMe was set up by her sister Kamilla and she has been keeping the page updated as well as on her social media accounts.

If her recovery continues to go well, Laiha is expected to be in the coma for two to three weeks.

 

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A post shared by Kami Slayton (@kamijoslayton)


Her full recovery however will be lengthy as she will need surgeries to remove the dead skin and replace it with donor cadaver skin until more compatible skin for her is grown for her.

Her sister said she is “doing better day by day” and added that her father also burned his foot in the process of saving his daughter.

According to the GoFundMe, her burns “seem to be better than they had initially thought”, and that they are more second degree burns than third.

“This means that our dad pulled her out insanely fast. She’s incredibly lucky. Dad saved her life,” Kamilla wrote.

 

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A post shared by Kami Slayton (@kamijoslayton)


Taking to Instagram, Kamilla wrote: “Dad acted on instinct, adrenaline, and saved her life.

“It goes unsaid- all parents would have done the same thing. Not every parent experiences that traumatic situation. He watched his daughter almost die. He couldn’t go in that helicopter with her…the gut wrenching feeling of having to watch your daughter fly off, uncertain of if she is going to live or not.

“He experienced that torture for hours while driving with an injured foot. He went to the vet before he could go to the hospital, he knows how close Laiha holds those dogs to her heart, and he wasn’t able to see her because of all the work they were doing to her.”