Dec. 20, 1980 was a frigid Minnesota night, and nineteen-year-old Jean Hilliard was carefully driving toward her parents’ home in Lengby. Then disaster struck. Her car skidded on some ice and careened off the road into a ditch, leaving her stranded in the kind of cold that bites right through to your bones. In the blink of an eye, the teenager was in a life-or-death survival situation.
Dressed in just a jacket, pants, and cowboy boots – hardly a winter survival kit – she’s faced with a tough decision. Stay in place and hope someone else is driving down this isolated road that will help her, or try her best to make it a few miles to her friend’s house.
As Jean trudged through the snow, the cold was relentless, sapping her body heat with every step. An hour later, she’s practically within touching distance of her friend Wally Nelson’s house. As she later explained:
“I’d get over one hill, thinking his place would be there, and it wasn’t. I was more frustrated than scared.”
Then, having pushed her body to its absolute limit “everything went black”. The next morning, Jean is discovered by her horrified friend. After six hours in the cold, she’s practically frozen solid, her limbs stiff, her eyes frozen wide open, and obviously teetering on the edge of death. As Nelson later explained:
“I was so damn surprised when I saw that little hunk out in the yard. I grabbed her by the collar and skidded her into the porch. I thought she was dead. Froze stiffer than a board, but I saw a few bubbles coming out of her nose.”
Jean Hilliard was Frozen but later survived. She was involved in a car crash in sub zero temperatures pic.twitter.com/k3gtfVydOi
— Ruby(@ruby_beauty1) December 13, 2023
The icewoman cometh
Jean Hilliard was Frozen but later survived. She was involved in a car crash in sub zero temperatures pic.twitter.com/k3gtfVydOi
— Ruby
Jean is promptly rushed to Fosston Hospital. Doctors warn that if she survives – and that’s a big if – brain damage and multiple amputations are likely. In a mark of just how cold she was, when nurses tried to administer an IV, the needles couldn’t penetrate her frozen flesh. With no other option, they retrieved heating pads and began to gently defrost her.
Enter a hospital worker with a spark of hope. They call Jean’s pastor, and soon, a prayer chain ignites across the community. By day’s end, over 30 people are praying for her recovery. That morning, Jean began to awaken, her body jerking back to life. By lunchtime, she was talking coherently, worrying about her dad finding out his car was in the ditch.
There was no brain damage and no amputations were necessary – the worst she suffered were blistered toes. So, is this an example of the power of prayer? Well, doctors say Jean’s recovery isn’t strictly miraculous. In an interview with MPR, University of Minnesota professor of emergency medicine David Plummer and an expert at reviving people from extreme hypothermia, explained the physiological reasons why Jean recovered:
“As a person cools down, their blood flow slows way down and their body requires less oxygen. It’s like a form of hibernation. If their blood flow increases at the same rate as their body warms up, they can often recover. We have patients you can knock on like wood. They feel rock solid frozen. That in no way dissuades us from the resuscitation attempt. And we do have a track record of success with that.”
Jean herself was briefly a news sensation, but these days lives a normal life and as of 2018 was working at a Walmart. When asked about what it was like being frozen solid to the point of death, she almost sounds sad it wasn’t more dramatic:
“It’s like I fell asleep and woke up in the hospital. I didn’t see the light or anything like that. It was kind of disappointing. So many people talk about that, and I didn’t get anything.”
Whatever the case, if you ever come across a victim of hypothermia and you think all hope is lost, remember Jean Hilliard and know that there’s always a chance of a recovery.
