HENRY COUNTY, Ga. — A 22-year-old woman who nearly died in a car crash wiped away tears Thursday as she thanked the Henry County firefighters who saved her life.
Kayla Jenkins was driving down Lakeshore Drive on Oct. 27 when her car started to slip on the wet road.
“My front hit a tree. After it hit the tree, it flipped three or four times, and before I knew it I was upside down in water with my seat belt on,” she said.
Jenkins managed to free herself from her seat belt in the dark, murky water of Swan Lake.
“I used the light of my cellphone to swim to the back and find an air pocket,” she said.
A neighbor nearby saw the accident and called 911.
“As soon as I said ‘I’m alive, help me,’ he started praying with me, and he stood in that water and prayed with me until firefighters and EMTs got there,” Jenkins said.
Moments later, she felt firefighter Nick Smith of Fire Station 11 in Stockbridge reach under water.
“I'm telling you, I have never been more thankful for a hand in my life,” she said.
Jenkins said she lost her father four weeks ago and kept thinking about her mother as she sat trapped inside the car.
Jenkins went to the firehouse on Thursday to thank her rescuers, and cried as she hugged each firefighter who was there that day.
“If it wasn't for them, I would not be here. I thank God every morning I wake up, I thank God. I pray God blesses and gives them joy beyond measure, because they are part of God's work to give a second chance,” she said.
WSBTV
