Nancy Breberg and husband, RonThe Minnesota woman who spent 18 hours alone inside her sinking SUV after crashing through a fence and into a pond is recovering and will soon be transferred to a long-term care facility.
Over the weekend, an update was made to Nancy Breberg's CaringBridge website to announce she no longer needs a breathing tube after undergoing a successful tracheotomy.
She had also been on a feeding tube, but doctors planned to create one directly to her stomach linking to her abdomen in the future.
Now that her frostbite is fairly well healed, doctors at the Hennepin County Medical Center have referred Breberg to the respiratory area of Bethesda Hospital in St. Paul. She is expected to be moved on Tuesday.
Breberg, 67, was looking for a hotel when she crashed and wound up trapped inside her partially-submerged vehicle as icy water crept in.
She was eventually spotted and rescued as 20-year-old Geoff Racette-Wesala crossed the street on his bicycle and saw a tire sticking up out of the swamp. Officials say it would not have been possible to see Breberg's vehicle from a car on the road.
After Breberg told Geoff she was diabetic, he gave her a snack from his backpack to stabilize her blood sugar, then called police.
Breberg suffered serious frostbite, and police say if she might not have made it much longer if Racette-Wesala hadn't found her.
